A DAY TO REMEMBER

BUFFALO - Poetry.
Plain and simple.
In the same city where the famous 'French Connection' once made their living, proud Quebecer Jakob Pelletier sped off under the banners of Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Richard Martin, and buried his first-career goal with a slick set of hands.
It doesn't get much better than that.

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Pelletier - ever the perfectionist - was still beating himself up after missing on a similar chance the other night against the Red Wings.
He wasn't going to miss twice.
Not with family and friends having the made 10-hour trek from his home province, and with his game quickly rounding into form after getting the call to this level a few weeks back. The 2019 first-round pick has been buzzing for the Flames, and after being promoted to the second line with Nazem Kadri and mentor Jonathan Huberdeau, you knew it was only a matter of time.
What we might not have expected was a goal this pretty - one he'll never have to exaggerate when telling the story to his grandkids decades from now, and that will dominate the nightly highlight reels from Calgary to La Belle Province, beginning in primetime on CBC's Hockey Night.
"He starts below our goal line and ends up at their goal line," Darryl Sutter said of the rookie. "I've said it all along about that kid - I said it at training camp and I said it over and over - he's got the energy and he's got the spirit for the game. He will be a good player.
"He's such a likeable kid. Guys feed off it. ... He's awesome. I've said it from Day 1, it doesn't change. He's got a head for the game. He's a kid, so it's going to take time. I don't think it's about confidence with him. He sees the game (well) and as he gets more mature and stronger, his game will go along with it."
Pelletier's goal was not only big for the Kid with a Dream - but for a team that badly needed this one and the two points that come with it.
Not because of the standings.
But because they needed something to feel good about it. To rally around.
Down 2-0 after the first period in one of their most important games of the season, Pelletier's tally kickstarted a four-goal-in-5:22 stretch that included a tally from the hometown boy, Dennis Gilbert. Mikael Backlund and Kadri rounded out the scoring in the midle frame as the Flames peppered the Buffalo net with 23 second-period shots - at one point, leading the home team 31-3, overall, in that category.
When you talk about playing with purpose, this was Exhibit A in the NHL playbook.
They were in-your-face.
Relentless.
Dominant.
It officially goes down a 7-2 final - but the stories within are what will live on from this memory-filled matinee on Saturday in upstate New York.
Gilbert, who grew up only a stone's throw from the KeyBank Center and had "60 to 70" family and friends on hand including his grandmother, Patricia, for Saturday's tilt, has fond memories of this building. He attended plenty of games here as a young fan, and even got a chance to skate on the very same ice as his heroes, winning a high-school championship with the Buffalo Jr. Sabres.
"She wasn't able to come see me at all when I was in Chicago or Denver. It was kind of far, with the travel," Gilbert said of his grandma. "She was able to come out to the game in Pittsburgh earlier in the year, but she's always been a big supporter of me and we're very close. It will be nice for her to make the 20-minute drive to downtown for the game and not have to do some crazy travel."
What a story.
Across the board.

With the win, the Flames improve to 25-18-10 on the year.
The Sabres opened the scoring with a powerplay goal at 7:56. With Brett Ritchie in the box for cross-checking, scoring sensation Tage Thompson unleased a wicked one-timer from the bottom of the far circle that whistled past Jacob Markstrom's glove and off the back bar in the blink of an eye.
Thompson - who missed the NHL All-Star Game due to an upper-body injury suffered in Buffalo's last game before the break - now has 35 goals on the year.
The Flames had a 6-2 edge on the shot clock at the midway point of the period, but it felt like the homeside had some extra jump and were slowly taking over the game with a decided territorial advantage.
Before long, the additional zone-time turned fatal for the visitors, who surrendered the 2-0 goal off the stick of Casey Mittelstadt at 12:34. Mittelstadt took a pass from Victor Olofsson off the rush and showed great patience, forcing the defenders to collapse before backpedalling into the right circle and picking the far side on Markstrom.
It was a tough break for the Flames puck-stopper, who wasn't overly busy in the period, but looked sharp early on with a big stop off Tyson Jost, who led a 3-on-1 following a defensive breakdown. Markstrom finished with 21 saves to halt a personal five-game slide.
Shots on goal favoured the Flames 11-3 after one.
Andrew Mangiapane had the best chance of the period for the Flames after taking a stretch pass from Noah Hanifin and breaking in alone, but his forehand deke clanked off the post behind Sabres netminder Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen.
Turns out, it was a sign of things to come.
Pelletier's goal came at 2:17 of the second, hustling his way up the ice to meet a beautiful, soft-area dish from Kadri, who put it right on the tape. Pulling away from a diving Olofsson, Pelletier put a beautiful shot over the blocker for the landmark tally.
"I was like, 'Come on, Pelts. Come on", man, let's go!" Pelletier said of his nearly 200-foot- gallop of the ice. "The past three or four games, I think I've had some good chances. Couldn't score. So tonight, it feels pretty good, yeah."
Backlund evened the score just 20 seconds later, cutting in from the half wall and around Rasmus Dahlin, before snapping the puck far side for his 10th of the season.
Gilbert was next up, stepping into a slapshot after taking a drop pass from Dillon Dube at 4:04. It was Gilbert's first goal as a Flame and second of his NHL career after getting one with the Blackhawks in the 2019-20 season. Elias Lindholm recorded his 300th career assist on the play.
The first three goals came only 1:47 apart, before Kadri rounded out the offence with a tip of a Huberdeau shot at 7:39.

The Sabres - who were outshot 34-8 after 40 minutes - were booed off the ice.
Tyler Toffoli put a nail in the coffin with his team-leading 20th and 21st goals of the season in the third period - the first, coming at 1:57 when he casually converted a cross-crease feed from Dube, and the second, a filthy flick from the left circle that beat Luukkonen over the shoulder halfway through the frame.
Dube then got one of his own, finishing a pretty, tic-tac-toe sequence with his 13th of the year at 17:11 to ice a 7-2 final. The winger finished with a goal and three helpers to lead the way offensively.
"I will say, it was nice hearing a couple boos at some points in the game because they were getting rattled with how we were playing," Gilbert said.

THEY SAID IT:

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 40 - BUF 23
Powerplay:CGY 1-for-3 - BUF 1-for-3
Hits: CGY 24 - BUF 8
Faceoffs: CGY 50% - BUF 50%
\Scoring chances: CGY 27 - BUF 19
\High-danger scoring chances: CGY 13 - BUF 10
*Courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (5-on-5)

THE LINEUP:

FORWARDS
Dillon Dube - Elias Lindholm - Tyler Toffoli
Jakob Pelletier - Nazem Kadri - Jonathan Huberdeau
Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
Milan Lucic - Trevor Lewis - Brett Ritchie

DEFENCE
Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov - MacKenzie Weegar
Dennis Gilbert - Michael Stone
GOALTENDERS
Jacob Markstrom - Starter
Dan Vladar

UP NEXT:

The Flames close out this four-game road trip with a stop in the nation's capital to take on the Senators on Monday at 5:30 p.m. MT, before returning to Calgary to open a three-game homestand on Thursday against the Red Wings.
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