CALGARY — Blake Coleman scored the game-winner as the Calgary Flames scored three times in the third period for a thrilling 4-2 comeback victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
Dillon Dube, Noah Hanifin, and Nazem Kadri, into an empty net, also scored for Calgary (4-7-1), which has won consecutive games for the first time this NHL season.
Michael McCarron and Kiefer Sherwood replied for the Predators (5-7-0), who have lost three of their last four.
Jacob Markstrom made 17 stops to snap a personal seven-game winless skid. He hadn’t won since he was in net for Calgary’s victory in its season opener. He’s 2-6-1.
The much busier Juuse Saros had 35 saves in the loss. His record falls to 4-6-0.
Down 2-1 after 40 minutes, Calgary tied it at 4:45 of the third. Shortly after Yegor Sharangovich was stopped on a great setup in front by Kadri, Sharangovich got the puck in the corner and set up Hanifin breaking in from the blue line and he whipped a 30-foot wrist shot into the top corner.
Less than two minutes later, Coleman gave Calgary its first lead of the night. Holding onto the puck on a two-on-one, he elected to shoot and wristed a shot high over Saros’ glove.
Down 2-0, the comeback began at 15:06 of the second when defenceman Nikita Zadorov burst up ice and dropped the puck to Dube, whose shot squeezed through Saros’ pads for his second goal of the season.
Calgary trailed 2-0 after the first period, despite carrying the play for most of the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the visitors 17-6.
Nashville opened the scoring at 4:35 when McCarron scored his first goal of the season by finishing off a slick passing sequence. In his second NHL game, defenceman Marc Del Gaizo sent a pass down low to Liam Foudy whose touch pass across to McCarron was neatly steered inside the goalpost.
With the Flames pushing, the Predators counter punched again at 14:34.
When Rasmus Andersson’s point shot was blocked, Tommy Novak sent the puck up ice, springing a two-man breakaway that was executed perfectly with Sherwood passing the puck across to Luke Evangelista, who sent the puck back to Sherwood for an empty net.
It was fitting that Kadri put the game on ice with 1:39 to go and Saros on the bench as he was dangerous all night, leading both teams with eight shots on goal. Kadri also had an assist to extend his point streak to four games (two goals, four assists).
HUBERDEAU BENCHED
Jonathan Huberdeau did not play in the third period, instead he sat at the first right end of the players’ bench. Huberdeau, on the first year of an eight-year, US$84 million deal, is off to a disappointing start with just six points (two goals, four assists) in 12 games and has only two assists in his last eight games.
SUSPENSION SERVED
Andrew Mangiapane, one goal shy of 100 goals for his career, did not play as he served his one-game suspension for his cross-check to the neck of Jared McCann of the Seattle Kraken.
RUZICKA RETURNS
The Flames welcomed back Adam Ruzicka (shoulder) to the lineup after he missed four games. He opened the game centring the fourth line between AJ Greer and Walker Duehr, but moved up into the top nine in the second period.
UP NEXT
Predators: Wrap up their five-game road trip in Winnipeg on Thursday when they face the Jets.
Flames: Take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday to begin a three-game Eastern road swing.
