Gaudreau scores 3 points and Flames win 5-0 over Sabers in Buffalo – Calgary | The Canadian News

Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves and Andrew Mangiapane and Johnny Gaudreau scored two goals and one assist for the Calgary Flames in a 5-0 win over the Buffalo Sabers on Thursday night.

Markstrom’s five shutouts in 13 starts lead the NHL and it’s a personal best.

“He’s one of our leaders,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “He is one of our main guys.

“It’s not always easy to do that from that position, because the guys are a bit on their island. But he brings a lot to the dressing room ”.

The Flames had a sixth shutout with backup Dan Vladar at the net and are the first team with that many in the first 17 games since the Boston Bruins at the start of the 1938-39 season.

“That speaks to the great assist we are getting,” said Matthew Tkachuk, who scored one goal and two assists. “Even if they let one or two in, they keep us in the games and give us points. Especially recently.

“Our two goalkeepers have been incredible this year.”

Christopher Tanev added two assists as the Flames (9-3-5) improved to 2-1-2 on their seven-game road trip, with points in four in a row.

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This was the first shutout loss of the season for the Sabers (7-7-2), who have lost seven of nine.

“An embarrassing effort at home and not up to our standards,” Sabers forward Vinnie Hinostroza said. “You look around the room tonight, everyone is pretty nervous.

“I don’t think anyone has taken advantage of its potential.”

Dustin Tokarski stopped 18 of 23 shots before being replaced in the third period by Aaron Dell, who made 10 saves. Tokarski was coming off a career-high 45 saves in Buffalo’s 2-1 win at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

“Dustin wasn’t the problem,” Sabers coach Don Granato said. “In front of him was the problem.”

The Sabers received boos from the home crowd after the Flames scored four goals in the second period, the last three on back-to-back shots at the net by Tkachuk, Mangiapane and Gaudreau in a span of 1:37.

Gaudreau set Tkachuk up for his eighth of the season with just over six minutes left in the period.

“We did not react competitively from that point,” Granato said. And that tells me it was the whole mood of the night. Guys just didn’t feel like themselves. “

Mangiapane followed up with his team-leading 12th goal and Gaudreau scored on a power play 46 seconds later to make it 5-0.

Tanev fed Mangiapane a backhand from the slot that bounced off Tokarski’s glove and gave Calgary a 2-0 lead with less than two minutes of the second.

Gaudreau’s breakaway goal put the Flames in front midway through the first period. Skating over Buffalo defender Colin Miller to receive an extended pass from Tkachuk across the blue line, Gaudreau lifted a shot to the top edge of the net for his fifth.

“We got the lead early, and we didn’t really look back,” Tkachuk said.

Mangiapane keeps marking

Mangiapane has scored 11 road goals, ahead of Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl for the NHL’s lead in that category. He joined Jarome Ignla (2009-10) as the only players in Flames history to score 11 goals in the first 11 away games of the season.

Mangiapane, 25, is in his third season with the Flames, “and he’s still a very humble kid,” Tkachuk said. “Just scratching the surface of what he can be and starting to show the hockey world that he’s one of the best in the NHL.”

Markstrom became the 10th goalkeeper in NHL history to record five shutouts in 13 or fewer appearances. The last was Columbus’s Pascal Leclaire in nine games during the 2007-08 season.

Flames defender Oliver Kylington extended his points streak to five games with an assist on Mangiapane’s first goal. He is one of only three NHL players with multiple five-point streaks this season.

Calgary is 9-1-2 against opponents in the Eastern Conference and 0-2-3 within the Western Conference.