Matthew Tkachuk tallied a goal and two assists, leading the Calgary Flames to a 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.
Dillon Dube contributed the game-winning goal and an assist, while Brett Ritchie, Andrew Mangiapane, Milan Lucic, and Johnny Gaudreau also found the net for the Flames, who have secured three wins in their last four games. Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots.
Earlier in the day, Calgary bolstered its lineup by acquiring Calle Jarnkrok from Seattle, which heightened the competition for ice time. The Flames’ depth players rose to the occasion, with Dube leading the charge as each member of the fourth line scored.
“It’s competition, very clearly. He’s a player who can play anywhere in your top nine,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said of Jarnkrok. “Other than one line, we’ve moved guys around all year because nobody’s grabbed onto it enough. It’s more competition. It’s not, ‘I’m up and jump over the boards.’ It’s about performance.”
Dube, who ended a nine-game goal drought, appreciated the impact of adding a player like Jarnkrok.
“It makes our lineup a lot deeper, so it only helps us,” Dube said. “The investment shows us what we put in is paying off, so adding a really good player is nice.”
Dawson Mercer, P.K. Subban, and Yegor Sharangovich scored for the Devils, but they have lost three of their last four games.
Nico Daws allowed four goals on 19 shots before being replaced midway through the second period by Jon Gillies, who made 19 saves.
“I know a lot of those players over there, and they’re top players in the NHL,” said Gillies, a 2012 Flames draft pick. “The unfortunate part of that is you can do a lot of good things, but when breakdowns happen, they’re usually going to put it in the back of the net, and that’s what happened.”
With the game tied at 2, the Flames scored three goals in 3:29 of the second period.
At 7:04, Dube put the Flames ahead 3-2 with a pass from Tkachuk. Tkachuk then scored a goal of his own, leading to Daws’s removal from the game.
Lucic extended the lead to 5-2 at 10:33, deflecting Rasmus Andersson’s centering pass for his first goal in 24 games.
Sharangovich cut the Devils’ deficit at 3:51 of the third when his shot went past Markstrom’s glove.
Gaudreau secured the win for the Flames with an empty-net goal with 2:30 remaining.
Ritchie opened the scoring for Calgary midway through the first period with his first goal of the season. Initially set to be a scratch for the fifth time in six games, he was reinserted into the lineup when rookie Adam Ruzicka was sent down to Stockton of the AHL.
Mercer tied it for New Jersey at 16:21, but Mangiapane put the Flames back in the lead two minutes later with his 30th goal of the season.
Subban tied it again for New Jersey 5:01 into the second period before Calgary’s scoring outburst.
UP NEXT
- Devils: At Edmonton on Saturday.
- Flames: Host the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.
