Dillon Dube scored the lead in the second period and helped lead the Calgary Flames to a 6-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday.
Brett Ritchie, Andrew Mangiapen, Matthew Tkachuk, Milan Lucic and Jonny Goudreau also scored for Calgary (37–16–7), which took a seven-point lead over Los Angeles over the Pacific Division. The Flames have won 15-1-1 in their last 17 matches at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Dawson Mercer and Yegor Sharangovich scored their 15th goals for New Jersey (22-34-5), while PK Subban also scored. Nico Hisier had a pair of assistants. The Devils have skipped the first game of their three-game Western Canada Road Trip with five straight losses overall on the road.
In the nets for Calgary, Jakob Markström made 30 stops to improve to 29-11-6. He is 13-1-1 in his last 15 decisions.
Making his ninth consecutive start for the Devils, coach Lindy Ruff pulled Nico Dow in the second period after conceding four goals on 19 shots. They lost 6-6-0. John Gillies in relief stopped 19 of the 20.
At a 2–2 draw in the second period, Calgary left the game open to score three goals in less than four minutes.
Giving the flames a lead they would not relinquish, Dube took a pass from Takachuk as he flew alone into Devils’ territory and quickly shot Doves from the side of the glove at 7:04. Dube’s seventh season of the season broke a nine-game goalless skid.
At 9:31, it was Takachuk’s turn for a breakaway. Lonely sprung from deep into his own end from a long pass from Eric Gudbranson, Takachuk took the blocking side to beat Dow.
It was the end of the night for the Dow, who was replaced by the Gillies, originally a 2012 Calgary draft pick.
Things didn’t start any better for the former Flame as a minute after facing his first shot, Rasmus Andersen’s centering pass was deflected in front of him by Lusik for his first goal in 24 games.
It was a big night for Calgary’s fourth row with Richie, the third member of the trio, with Dube in the center and Lusick on the left wing, scoring the first goal of the game.
At 9:43 of the first period, Richie pucked into the slot and fired a shot through a crowd that Dow had not seen.
Not only was it his first goal of the season in 30 matches for the rugged right winger, it was also his first point. It was that night when he was originally going to scratch for the fifth time in the last six games.
Richie rejoined the line-up after the Flames acquired Calle Jarnrock from Seattle before the game and sent Adam Ruzicka to Stockton (AHL), to make a spot on the roster.
In exchange for the 30-year-old forward, Kraken received a 2022 second-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick and a 2024 seventh-round pick.
New Jersey drew 1-1 at 16:21 when Mercer got the puck in the slot and the 20-year-old rookie fired a shot into the top corner.
Calgary took the lead at 18:22 for the first time, with Mangiapen taking advantage of the turnover. The Devils once again tied it in 5:01 second on a long wrist shot from Subban that dribbled through Markstrom’s pads.
Notes: Mikel Backlund played in career game number 804, surpassing Al McInnis to move him to fourth place on the Flames’ all-time list… Calgary has won their last eight games against New Jersey … to Chris Tanev It helped give the 32-year-old Flames defense a career-high 21 points.
