Lindholm reaches 40-goal mark to help Flames double up Canucks
Dillon Dube scored two goals and Elias Lindholm scored his 40th goal, leading the Calgary Flames to victory over Vancouver 6-3 on Saturday night. This result scuttled the Canucks’ playoff hopes.
Calgary’s 49-20-10 goals were also scored by Nikita Zdorov, Brett Ritchie, and Johnny Gaudreau. 9-1-1 in their 11 previous games, the Flames have secured first place in Pacific Division.
Conor Garland, Quinn Hughes, and Emilio Pettersson were the goals for Vancouver (38-30-11), a team that loses both its two-game road trip from Minnesota to Vancouver.
With Jacob Markstrom getting the night off and not even in uniform, rookie Dan Vladar got the rare home start — just his third start at the Saddledome all season. To improve his 12-5-2 record, he made 28 stops.
Thatcher Demko made 25 stops at the other end. He drops to 33-22-7.
WATCH l Dube scores pair as Flames down Canucks:
Vancouver loses their third consecutive game and is dealt another blow by Calgary’s 6-3 loss. 0:58
The Flames surged into the lead 2:44 into second period after a scoreless, penalty-free period. A power-play goal put them in control.
After being set up by Johnny Gaudreau, Lindholm was hit with a high-stick by rookie Canucks forward William Lockwood. He then took the penalty.
Lindholm’s 40th goal is one game after Matthew Tkachuk, his linemate, reached the same milestone.
This is the first time Calgary has seen multiple 40-goal scorers since 1993-94, when Gary Roberts (41), Theo Fleury (44) and Robert Reichel (44) all achieved that feat.
Lindholm was robbed of three great chances on Thursday, and another one in the first half on Saturday. His relief at seeing the red goal light illuminated showed that he looked up when he saw the light.
With the Saddledome still buzzing and the Flames scoring again just 16 seconds later, Dube onetimed Calle Jarnkrok’s centreing pass.
Hughes’ goal at 18.44 of the second reduced the Canucks’ deficit to one. Garland got them back to even five minutes into the third period. Tyler Myers’ crossice pass was swatted out of the air by Garland and placed it inside the post.
Calgary scored the winning goal, scoring two goals in twelve seconds.
Dube jumped in from the wing at 13:33 and beat Demko by hitting a backhander into top corner. This was followed by a Zadorov backhander that passed through Demko’s pads.
Dube’s 16th goal and sixth in six of his previous games was the game-winner. Pettersson scored at 17:32 for Vancouver, making it 5-3.
SourceCBC Sports
