FLAMES FALL TO LEAFS

The Flames fell 4-1 to the Toronto Maple Leafs in their return to the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Michael Stone scored Calgary's lone goal Tuesday night, a point shot assisted by Sam Bennett and Troy Brouwer.

Leafs goaltender Frederik Anderson was up to the task in the tilt, making 19 saves in the game, and denying several great chances by the Flames.

At the other end of the ice, Flames goalie Mike Smith played well for the home side, stopping 26 shots, including some highlight reel material.

"I don't think we did enough," admitted captain Mark Giordano. "They're a good team and they play with a lot of speed, but they do the little things. They chip the puck a lot. A few mistakes cost us this game. We didn't play that badly, but there were a few key moments in the game where they took advantage and got some big goals.

"If you score one goal, on most nights you're not going to have a chance to win. It's going to be pretty tough. We had our opportunities, but I thought they were better tonight."

With just over five minutes left in the first period, Tyler Bozak led a Leafs rush and with a man open in front of the net, he slid a perfect pass over to Mitch Marner, who was promptly denied by an amazing pad save from Smith.

The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead in the opening frame when defenceman Roman Polak's point shot deflected off of Flames defender Travis Hamonic and past Smith.

"The first one is going eight feet wide and it hits Harmonic and goes in," said Stone. "That being said, Smith made some really good saves to keep it scoreless until then."

Calgary's best scoring chance of the period came on a nice cross-crease saucer pass from Johnny Gaudreau that jumped just over the stick of Sean Monahan.

Midway through the second, the Flames took off on a 3-on-2 rush that saw Micheal Ferland and Matthew Tkachuk execute a give-and-go that was stopped by a brilliant save by a sprawling Anderson.

After a failed clearing attempt and a scrum in the corner, the puck found its way to an open Nikita Zaitsev who wristed one five-hole on Smith to give the Leafs a 2-0 lead.

Nazem Kadri netted the Leafs third goal of night in the third period as he wristed the puck top corner, beating Smith's glove. Leo Komarov iced the game with an empty-netter with 0.9 seconds left.

"I don't think we were at our best tonight and I think it showed on the scoreboard," said Monahan. "We've got to fight back and battle a little bit harder than we did. That's not a good loss to have here on home ice."

"After a team scores, we've got to be able to bounce back and rally behind it. Tonight we didn't do that and we've got to learn from that for sure. We've got a couple games coming up here at home and we need to bounce back here quick."

ONE-TIMERS

Mark Giordano is three games away from playing in his 700th career contest … Matthew Tkachuk's next game will be the 100th of his career … Freddie Hamilton is tied for the franchise record for fastest game-winning goal with a tally 19 seconds into the game on Nov. 30, 2016 against the Leafs … Giordano is just seven points away from passing Robert Reichel for 14th in Flames all-time points.

NEXT UP

The Flames are back in action on Thursday, when they host the Arizona Coyotes (7 p.m. MT) at the Scotiabank Saddledome to close out the month of November. Come down early from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. for Hockey Happy Hour and enjoy food, drink and merchandise specials. You can get a 14 oz. domestic draught, 1 oz. highball, 6 oz. house wine, a cheeseburger or a pizza slice for just $5 each. As well, take an additional 10% of all regular-priced FanAttic merchandise.