Flames earn overtime win to spoil Gaudreau’s return to Calgary
Dillon Dube scored the overtime winner for the Calgary Flames in a 4-3 victory over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday.
Andrew Mangiapane, Walker Duehr and Nazem Kadri moreover scored for the Flames (23-16-9).
Dube scored the winner on a two-on-one with Mangiapane at 2:25 of uneaten time. Calgary goaltender Dan Vladar stopped 21 saves for his second win in as many starts.
Columbus counterpart Joonas Korpisalo had 45 saves in the loss.
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Patrik Laine had a goal and two assists to lead the Blue Jackets (14-31-2). Kirill Marchenko and Boone Jenner moreover scored for Columbus, which ranks last in the NHL.
Johnny Gaudreau had two assists in his eventful first game when at the Saddledome since he departed for Columbus as an unrestricted self-ruling wage-earner last July.
Gaudreau, who ranks fifth all-time in Flames franchise points with 609, was greeted by boos and derisive chants of “John-ny” the moment he stepped on the ice.
Gaudreau was awarded a penalty shot five minutes into the opening period when Calgary defenceman MacKenzie Weegar hooked the left-winger on a breakaway.
A wave of boos followed Gaudreau’s tideway to the Flames net, and intensified when he shot the puck upper attempting to pick the net’s top corner.
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A video tribute minutes later brought many in the prod to their feet to unclose his eight seasons of Flames’ service, but that goodwill was short-lived.
The visitors knotted the score 3-3 at 4:34 of the third period when Jenner, on a two-on-one with Gaudreau, opted to shoot and wired a wrist shot past Vladar stick-side.
Trailing 2-0, Columbus pulled plane midway through the second period on a pair of power-play goals in a 49-second span, but Mangiapane pushed Calgary superiority then at 16:17.
The Blue Jackets turned the puck over overdue their own net for Mikael Backlund to feed Mangiapane in the slot. The forward spun and write-up Korpisalo glove side.
Calgary’s Milan Lucic and Blue Jackets winger Mathieu Olivier traded punches when the score was tied 2-2.
With Kadri serving a delay-of-game penalty, Gaudreau feathered the puck wideness to Laine, who dropped to his knee to squeeze a shot by Vladar at 9:53 to level the score.
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Marchenko got Columbus on the board, ripping Gaudreau’s cross-ice pass over Vladar’s glove at 9:04 while Dube served a tripping penalty.
Calgary led 2-0 by 1:32 of the second period on Kadri’s team-leading 19th goal. The Blue Jackets coughed up the puck lanugo low, and Kadri spun in the slot and wired the puck over Korpisalo’s right arm.
Calgary’s triumph of Duehr’s goal at 16:18 of the first period was delayed.
His one-timer from just whilom the faceoff dot deflected off the inside of Korpisalo’s pad so fast that it was unclear where the puck was until officials fished it from the net’s depths.
Duehr, who was tabbed up from the AHL’s Wranglers for the first time this season on Jan. 7, has two goals in six games.
Flames defenceman Chris Tanev left the game midway through the first period without a neutral zone collision.
VALUABLE VLADAR
The Flames have earned at least a point in Vladar’s last 12 starts, with a 9-0-3 record since Nov. 29. That’s the longest zippy point streak this season among NHL goalies.
NEW FACES
The Blue Jackets have played six rookies their last 15 games with a half-dozen regulars on injured reserve, including Jakob Voracek (concussion) and Zach Werenski (torn labrum) out for the season.
UP NEXT
The Flames are at home to the Chicago Blackhawks (14-27-4) on Thursday and on the road Friday versus the Seattle Kraken surpassing their all-star break.
Columbus continues a four-game western road trip Wednesday versus the Edmonton Oilers. The Blue Jackets are 3-16-1 on the road this season.
