If Monday's lopsided affair was anything like Costanza's typical lunch order - tuna on toast, where "nothing has ever worked out!" for him - this was the untoasted-chicken-salad-on-rye version.
You know … The opposite. (Or so he believed.)
Either way, it was a scrumptious turn of events, with Nick Ritchie, Troy Stecher, Rasmus Andersson, Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane contributing offensively, while Dan Vladar - who was making his first start since in 11 games - stopped 19 shots for his 13th win of the season.
Tyler Toffoli had three helpers to give him nine points (3G, 6A) on a four-game spree.
"It was a better effort tonight," said Mikael Backlund, who hit a career milestone for the second game (more on that later). "I thought we had some good jump right away and took charge of the game.
"We talked about having two bad starts in a row and we knew we had to be better. Scoring right away always helps. It gives some energy to the group. We wanted to come out and show that we're better than last night and last night wasn't good enough and wasn't acceptable. We wanted to rebound from that.
"Total opposite of last night. Last night, we barely touched the puck and tonight, we had it a lot more. That's how we want to play."
The Flames were without veteran Chris Tanev, who is dealing with an upper-body injury. Dennis Gilbert drew into the lineup as a result, while MacKenzie Weegar moved back to the right side on a pairing with Nikita Zadorov.
It was a crucial win for the road team, because the Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators both picked up victories on Tuesday. As a result, the Flames remain four points back of their Canadian counterparts for the final wild-card spot, while the Preds sit one back of the Flames with three games in hand.
The Flames - who needed a quick start in the worst way after Monday's first-period disaster - took a 1-0 lead on the strength of a dominant opening shift. The line of Ritchie, Nazem Kadri and Dillon Dube went to work on the forecheck and got the Ducks running around, unable to contain the cycle. Eventually, the puck worked back to Noah Hanifin at the point, who filtered a shot through traffic. John Gibson made the initial stop, but Ritchie gobbled up the loose puck and stuffed home the rebound for his third as a Flame.
Dube picked up the other assist, while Hanifin extended his personal point streak to six games (2G, 4A).
The Flames opened up a two-goal lead with 3:09 to play in the period when Stecher sniped his first goal of the season. Anaheim's coverage completely broke down, allowing the D man to grab a loose puck at the blueline and walk all the way down to the right dot, before firing a beautiful shot, bar down.
