The Associated Press
Kyle Glaser
RALEIGH, N.C.–The Calgary Flames are going so well, they are rolling to easy victories even without their top scorer.
Dougie Hamilton scored twice, and Mike Smith made 38 saves, as the Flames ran their winning streak to seven-straight games with a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes yesterday.
Sean Monahan leads the Flames with 21 goals but was out because of the ‘flu.
Calgary still controlled the entire game.
Matt Stajan opened the scoring at 6:01 of the first period with his first goal of the season.
Hamilton made it 2-0 later in the first. He scored again early in the third for his first multi-goal game of the season before Matthew Tkachuk added an insurance goal late.
Johnny Gaudreau had two assists to extend his point streak to seven games in a row.
“We’re feeling good right now, obviously,” Hamilton said.
“We’re doing the little things consistent and we haven’t really had a terrible stretch of hockey yet.”
Scott Darling made 26 saves for Carolina, which now has lost four of five.
Lee Stempniak scored with 4:31 left to avoid a shutout.
“I didn’t think we were engaged in the game, period,” admitted Hurricanes’ coach Bill Peters.
“I didn’t think we skated, I didn’t think we had much emotional engagement to the game,” he noted.
“I thought we looked lethargic. We were slow.”
The Flames, indeed, were faster and more physical from the start.
Barely six minutes in, Curtis Lazar took the puck from his own blueline all the way to the front of the Carolina net, beating two defenders, but lost the puck before he could get a shot off.
The loose puck ended up right on Stajan’s stick, and he fired a wrister past Darling for his first goal in 37 games dating back to last season.
The Flames doubled their lead with 1:13 left in the first. A huge hit by Micheal Ferland at centre ice forced a Hurricanes’ turnover and resulted in a 3-on-2 Calgary rush, with Hamilton snapping home a one-timer to make it 2-0.
Flames’ captain Mark Giordano received a match penalty early in the third period for an illegal check to the head and was ejected.
He threw his shoulder into the face of Sebastian Aho, who was preparing to shoot.
Aho remained down on the ice for several minutes, had to be helped off, and didn’t return.
Peters said he didn’t have an update on Aho’s status after the game.
Calgary put the game away shortly after the hit.
Jamie McGinn found an opening on a 2-on-1 shorthanded break for Carolina and fired a wrist shot that hit the post and flicked along the goal line, but not over it.
With the Hurricanes thinking they had scored and looking toward the officials, the Flames collected the puck and rushed down the ice for a 3-on-2 break, which Hamilton finished on a one-timer for the second time.
Elsewhere in the NHL, Vancouver edged Minnesota 3-2 (OT), Detroit blanked Chicago 4-0, and Pittsburgh beat the N.Y. Rangers 5-2.
