Flames use special teams to defeat Red Wings

CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames scored three goals on the power play and one shorthanded in a 6-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.

Sam Bennett had two goals, and Sean Monahan, Mark Giordano, James Neal and TJ Brodie scored for the Flames (31-13-5), who are 6-0-1 in their past seven games and 9-1-2 in their past 11. Mike Smith made 31 saves.
Johnny Gaudreau had an assist to extend his point streak to 10 games and match his NHL career high.
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Flames highlights]
"It's great," Bennett said. "It's fun to come to the rink every day. Everyone is in good spirits. It's a lot of fun. That's the best way I can put it."
Dylan Larkin had two goals, and Mike Green and Anthony Mantha scored for the Red Wings (18-24-7), who had won two in a row. Jimmy Howard made 30 saves.
"Tonight we should have had two points," Larkin said. "There's no reason why we're walking in here ... [without the win]. That's on us."

The Flames rallied from a goal down for the fourth time to take the lead late in the third period.
Giordano scored shorthanded with a shot under Howard's arm to tie the game 4-4 at 14:03, and Bennett put the Flames up 5-4 at 16:06 on the power play with a shot over Howard's shoulder. Derek Ryan set up both goals.
"We got scored on there in the third and I thought that was a little frustrating for us just because that was literally the only time we spent in our own zone the whole game, it felt like," Ryan said. "It was nice to get back out there and set up a couple goals and get a win for the guys. That's important. That's the sign of a winning team too. You have different guys step up on different nights and contribute in different ways."

Brodie scored into an empty net with 50 seconds remaining for the 6-4 final.
"It's a great feeling," Bennett said. "No matter what the score is in the game, to have the confidence in our group to come back. Obviously it's not the position we want to be in as often as we are, but to know that we're never out of it is a great feeling."
Larkin put Detroit up 4-3 at 8:35 of the third when Gustav Nyquist passed back to him in the high slot after driving to the net. Larkin has six points (two goals, four assists) in the past three games, and 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in the past 22 games.
"When we go over the boards there with a 4-3 lead, we've got to at least keep the puck out of our net on the power play," Larkin said. "Lack of execution. All night we were around their net on the power play, but late in games we've got to be smarter with the puck."
The goal came after Green put Detroit up 3-2 at 4:16, and Neal scored on the power play to the game 3-3 at 7:34.

Mantha scored from the top of the face-off circle on a two-man advantage to put Detroit up 1-0 at 19:01 of the first period.
Bennett scored on a rebound on the power play 7:58 into the second period to tie it 1-1.
Larkin put the Red Wings up 2-1 at 13:25 with a short-side shot that deflected off Giordano's stick.
Monahan redirected a pass from Gaudreau to tie it 2-2 at 14:58.

They said it

"There was good composure on the bench. They believe in themselves, they believe in each other and they continue to try and make plays." -- Flames coach Bill Peters
"At the end of the day, six minutes to play with a one-goal lead and we get a power play, you at the very least got to salt away those two minutes and hopefully you score and finish the job. We shot ourselves in the foot." -- Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill

Need to know

Gaudreau has 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in his streak. He had 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in 10 games from Oct. 27-Nov. 20, 2017. … Calgary leads the NHL with 15 shorthanded goals. … Giordano has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in a six-game point streak. His third shorthanded goal this season tied Brad McCrimmon (1987-88) for the most by a Flames defenseman. … Flames forward Elias Lindholm has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in a six-game point streak. … Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk has nine points (six goals, three assists) in a seven-game point streak. … Nyquist has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in the past seven games. … Flames defenseman Travis Hamonic returned after missing two games because of a family illness. … Neal had his first two-point game with Calgary.

What's next

Red Wings: At the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday (4 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SNP, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Flames: At the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, SN360, SN1, CITY, NHL.TV)