Mikael Backlund and Rasmus Andersson scored early in the third period Tuesday night for the Calgary Flames, who remained red hot with a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders in Uniondale, N.Y.
Matthew Tkachuk opened the scoring for the Western Conference-leading Flames, who have won a season-high six straight, including the first two games of an Eastern Conference road trip. Calgary earlier had two winning streaks of five straight games.
Flames goalie Mike Smith made 26 saves.
Josh Bailey scored for the Islanders, who lost for the third time in the past four games -- a skid that began with a 4-2 loss at Calgary last Wednesday -- to fall into a tie for first place in the Metropolitan Division with the Washington Capitals.
Islanders goalie Robin Lehner recorded 24 saves.
After a scoreless first period, the Flames took the lead on a spectacular power-play goal by Tkachuk 2:57 into the second. Elias Lindholm, stationed in a faceoff circle, fired a shot into the crease. Tkachuk, in one motion and despite being parallel to the net, managed to knock the puck down, regain control of it with his stick and tuck a shot through his legs and under Lehner's legs.
The Islanders tied the score a little less than five minutes later thanks to a sequence started by Andrew Ladd, who poked the puck free from Flames center Sam Bennett in the Calgary zone. Valtteri Filppula pounced on the puck and raced up the ice accompanied by Bailey in a two-on-one with Andersson. Filippula eventually passed to Bailey, who took a couple strides before firing a shot past Smith.
The Flames squandered 90 seconds of a five-on-three opportunity spanning the second and third periods before scoring twice in a span of less than two minutes.
Backlund put the Flames ahead 3:15 into the final period when he took a pass from Lindholm and beat Lehner over his glove from the faceoff circle.
The Flames extended the lead to 3-1 just 118 seconds later. Andersson fired a slap shot so hard that it sailed past Lehner, hit the padding at the back of the net and bounced back onto the ice.
--Field Level Media
Calgary | NY Islanders | |
Elias Lindholm 2 | Points | Josh Bailey 1 |
Rasmus Andersson 1 | Goals | Josh Bailey 1 |
Elias Lindholm 2 | Assists | Valtteri Filppula 1 |
Matthew Tkachuk 1 | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Mike Smith .963 | Save Percentage | Robin Lehner .889 |
Mike Smith 26 | Saves | Robin Lehner 24 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Calgary | 27 | 3 | 1-5 | 4-4 | 8 | 31 |
NY Islanders | 27 | 1 | 0-4 | 4-5 | 10 | 19 |