FITTING THE 'BILL'

ANAHEIM - We expected a fast, physical, back-and-forth game between two of the league's best.
Heavyweight hockey.
On steroids.
But even the most lofty, pregame predictions, couldn't have pegged a match like this.
And for a couple of forwards that are used to filling the net, it was the perfect way to get off the schneid.

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The newly formed Blake Coleman, Sean Monahan and Trevor Lewis trio combined for five points, Elias Lindholm tallied a single in regulation, and Dan Vladar - who made his first start since Nov. 21 - made 31 saves in regulation and overtime.
Johnny Gaudreau did the rest for his club, scoring the shootout winner as the Flames beat the Ducks 4-3 on Friday at the Honda Center.
The Ducks rallied from a 3-1 deficit to pull even early in the third period, but they were tidy the rest of the way before Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk struck in the skills contest.
With the win, the Flames now have an NHL-best 11 road wins, and are 15-4-5 overall.
The Flames got off a great start and applied all sorts of pressure in the game's early going. Their efforts nearly paid off at 3:35 when Sean Monahan won a crucial, offensive-zone faceoff, allowing Noah Hanifin to gather the puck on his strong side and walk in off the blueline.
Hanifin feathered a beautiful wrister that looked destined for the top corner, but it caught iron and caromed out of play.
Hanifin had another great chance midway through the frame when he drove hard to the net and took a beautiful pass from Andrew Mangiapane, but the D man's one-time offering clanked metal, once again.
At the other end, Vladar had to be sharp, with the Ducks outshooting the Flames 10-5 at one point in the stanza. Just prior to the second Hanifin chance, hotshot rookie Trevor Zegras got a pass at the bottom of the right circle and rifled a quick wrister, but the goalie got across and took away the net.
At first glance, it looked like he made an impossible glove save - replay, later confirming that the shot was a smidge off target, glancing off the outside of the mesh and bouncing to safety.
Back and forth they went!
Gibson entered the chat late in the period when Johnny Gaudreau tried to stuff one out front, before Matthew Tkachuk took it in alone on a breakaway, but the 2016 Jennings Trophy winner was up to the task, thwarting them both with a fine display of athleticism.
Adam Henrique then rang one off the post at the other end on the very next shift, rounding out one of the most exciting scoreless periods you'll ever see.
Shots on goal favoured the Ducks 14-12 after one.

The Ducks opened the scoring only 54 seconds into the middle frame as Josh Manson filtered a shot through from the point. Vladar kicked out his right pad and stopped the initial look, but Sonny Milano was Johnny on the Spot, shovelling home the loose puck to score his second of the season.
But the Flames replied less than three minutes later to put the game on even terms.
Coleman snapped a 16-game goal drought with this third of the campaign, finishing off a terrific, backhand feed by Monahan, who fended off a check and put it on a platter for No. 20.
Lewis picked up the other helper after driving wide down the wall and making to play to Monahan in the middle.

The Flames took their first lead at 10:19 when Lindholm finished off a pretty passing play, and going bar down from close range.
Like, REALLY close range.

As beautiful as the goal was, a tip of the cap has to go to the setup man - Gaudreau, weaving his way into the zone, then putting a pass like that into No. 28's wheelhouse was a feat in itself.
The Flames opened up a two-goal lead at 15:10 off another hard-working shift deep in Ducks territory. Oliver Kylington made a great pass to the doorstep, and Monahan - planted in front - stopped it, pulled the biscuit across his body and neatly deposited his third of the year.

Rickard Rakell cut the lead to one with 35.1 seconds to play in the period and he hammered a one-timer upstairs after receiving a pretty drop pass from Isac Lundestrom off the rush.
With Erik Gudbranson serving a delay of game (puck over the glass) penalty early in the third, Vinni Lettieri powered a one-timer through the wickets to make it a 3-3 game.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 36 - ANA 34
Powerplay: CGY 0-1 - ANA 1-3
Hits: CGY 35 - ANA 20
Faceoffs: CGY 45% - ANA 55%
\Scoring chances: CGY 27 - ANA 31
\High-danger scoring chances: CGY 14 - ANA 12
*Courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (5-on-5)

ONE-TIMERS:

Coleman now has two goals against the Ducks this year, with the prior tuck coming away back on Oct. 18 in the Flames Home Opener. The veteran talked about his offensive production at the morning skate, saying he wasn't concerned about his lack of production this year because he was generating plenty of opportunities: "I definitely have higher expectations of where I should be in that department. But at the same time, I want to win games and the team's been doing that and I've found different ways to contribute. … It's one of those things where it's kind of come in waves in my career. I usually get hot and stay hot for a little bit, and then I have little spells like this. I've got to work my way out of that. Fortunately, the team's been winning and that's most important. I try to focus on other parts of my game when the puck's not going in for me, whether it's being physical or on the penalty kill, making simple plays to get the puck out of the zone, stuff like that. Not always real glamorous, but I'm not overly concerned about the production in the sense that I know what I'm capable of, and so does the team, and I know it will come." … Ducks captain and former Calgary Hitmen star Ryan Getzlaf did not play in the tilt, as he suffered an injury on Tuesday and is out week-to-week.

THEY SAID IT:

Monahan on his two-point game and great pass to Coleman:
"It's always nice to put one in the net and come out with the win, so it's a good feeling. ... The puck was kind of bouncing and I saw him coming down the wide side, so I just did whatever I could to get it over. I got a good bounce and he had an open net."

On getting rewarded for his hard work:
"You've just got to grind. When it's not coming and not working, you've just got to grind through it and stick with it. You don't want to get frustrated and you lose the other aspects in your game. You've just got to stick with it and build your confidence up slowly. ... I want to contribute wherever I can. I'm trying to bear down in the circle and do the little things and wherever I am in the lineup, you try to thrive in that spot. The biggest thing I'm happy about is where we are in the standings."
Assistant Coach Ryan Huska on Monahan:
I"t was nice to see him get rewarded, I can say that much. He's been working. And that's the hard part when you have a guy that's used to scoring all the time, or regularly, I should say, and they haven't been going in easy for him this year. But he's been working the last little while and you just had a sense that eventually it was going to go for him. So it was nice to see him get on the board with a few points tonight. He's an important player for us and does a lot of things well. If we can get him feeling really good about his offensive game again, it will make our team a lot better."

On Tkachuk's Forsberg-inspired shootout tally:
"He went with a lot of speed, which isn't something he normally does with a shootout move, so it was kind of like, 'I don't know what he's going to do here.' It was nice. Nice move that we haven't really seen either in practice from him, so I think he's such a smart offensive player that over the course of a game, I think he recognizes situations and he already starts thinking about how he might be able to beat a goaltender."

THE LINEUP:

Forwards:
Johnny Gaudreau - Elias Lindholm - Matthew Tkachuk
Milan Lucic - Mikael Backlund - Andrew Mangiapane
Blake Coleman - Sean Monahan - Trevor Lewis
Dillon Dube - Brad Richardson - Tyler Pitlick
Defence:
Oliver Kylington - Chris Tanev
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov - Erik Gudbranson
Goaltenders:
Dan Vladar - Starter
Jacob Markstrom

UP NEXT:

The Flames are off to Sin City for a Sunday tilt with the Golden Knights (8 p.m. MT, Sportsnet/Sportsnet 960 THE FAN), before wrapping up this four-game swing on Tuesday in San Jose.