GOT THE MOTOR RUNNIN'

DETROIT - It was the elephant in the dressing room that seemingly no one wanted a part of.
Twelve hours later, it can finally be said:
Quite simply, it was a game the Flames had to have.
Two points or nothing.
With no disrespect to their opponents, the Flames are in the heat of a playoff race, and in the opener of a potentially season-altering, season-long road trip, they couldn't let a team well down in the standings dictate the storyline.
It wasn't terribly pretty, at times, but they did what they had to do.

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Andrew Mangiapane scored twice, Sean Monahan had a goal and an assist, Noah Hanifin had a pair of helpers, and Johnny Gaudreau added a single as the Flames knocked off the Red Wings 4-2 Sunday at Little Caesars Arena.
David Rittich - who got the call for the 44th time this year, one off his career high - made 27 stops on the night.
The Flames got the start they were looking for, and after giving the Red Wings all they could handle in the opening five minutes or so, the floodgates opened on the scoreboard.
Gaudreau got the ball rolling with an absolute rocket at 6:45, putting the Flames up 1-0 and showing an early sign of things to come for the homeside. No. 13 walked in off the left circle and, with his head up, cranked a missile - beautifully placed - over the shoulder of Jonathan Bernier.
The Flames opened up a two-goal lead at 8:03 as Sean Monahan - who assisted on Gaudreau's opening strike - corralled the rebound off an Elias Lindholm point shot, glove it into a shooting position, and swept home the remnants for his 19th of the year.

The Flames had eight of the first 13 shots of the game and were firmly in control, yielded almost no zone time in the early stages of the period.
But the Red Wings found their legs about midway through and the pace levelled out. Then, with 4:13 to play in the opening frame, Dylan Larkin showed great speed down the right side, maneuvered his way around Michael Stone, drove hard to the net, and roofed a sand-wedge from the short grass.
The physicality picked up late when Alexander Yelesin threw a beautiful hip-check - one of the four hits he credited with in the period - on Justin Abdelkader, sending the winger pinwheeling through the air.
After one, shots on goal favoured the Flames 12-6, with the scoring chances (14-3) and high-danger looks (6-2) on lock as well.
The Red Wings hung around in the second period, and even put a scare into the visitors with a couple of quality chances among their nine shots in the frame, but the Flames got a big goal late to restore the two-advantage and, really, put the game on ice.
Mangiapane got the boot of his right skate on a Noah Hanifin point blast, redirecting it home and putting the Flames up 3-1 with only 10.6 seconds left in the period.

The Red Wings poured it on with 14 shots (to Calgary's seven) in the third, but Rittich was absolutely sensational, keeping the two-goal lead intact until the final few minutes.
With Bernier out for an extra-attacker, Larkin made it a one-goal game with his second of the night, through traffic, at 18:00.
But after the Flames won an important defensive-zone faceoff, Mangiapane iced it with an empty-net tally with 12 seconds left.

THEY SAID IT:

ANDREW MANGIAPANE ON HOW THE GAME PLAYED OUT:
"I thought we played a pretty good game. They scored that late one in the third, but you've got to give credit to the next line there. They went out, hemmed in their zone a little bit, got some momentum back for us. We just finished the job. We did what it takes to get the two points."
MANGIAPANE ON BUILDING ON THIS VICTORY:
"It sets us up good. Obviously you've got to focus, one game at a time, and just take care of business that night. You can't think too far ahead. We celebrate tonight and then we focus for the next game."
NOAH HANIFIN ON CLOSING THE GAME OUT:
"That was huge for us. Especially when they scored that second goal - that following shift, we responded really well. We held onto the puck, got into the offensive zone and kind of ran the clock down a little bit. It was a good response for us and obviously a huge two points."

HANIFIN ON THE TIGHT PLAYOFF RACE:
"Everyone knows where we stand and where all the other teams stand. It's a hunt, it's tight, things are changing every day, but we've just got to focus on what we can control. That's going out, competing hard, playing with urgency and playing with our identity and if we do that, we know we're going to be OK."
SEAN MONAHAN ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE WIN:
"Anytime you go on the road, getting the first win, obviously, that feels good. But we're at the stage in the season where we need every game, so it starts with this one and we've got to keep it going."
GEOFF WARD ON WHAT HE'LL TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ONE:
"We take the two points."
WARD ON THE THIRD-PERIOD LULL:
"I thought our start was really good. I thought we started the way we wanted, we started on time and were able to get out to the lead. I thought we were fine through two, and we probably would have liked to have been better than what we were in the third, but all in all... with everything that you talk about and potential trap games and all that stuff, I thought the guys did a good job sticking with it and finding a way."

ONE-TIMERS:

Mark Jankowski's grandfather - the late Lou Jankowski - played 23 NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings during the 1950-51 and '52-53 seasons. Loui split a total of 130 National League tilts between Chicago and Mo-Town, and spent five years in Calgary later that decade as a centre-winger for the Western Hockey League Stampeders. …. The NHL Trade Deadline is coming up tomorrow at 1 p.m. MT. Stay tuned to CalgaryFlames.com and Flames TV for extensive coverage of any moves the Flames make on location from Boston.

THE LINEUP:

Here are the forward lines, D pairings and goalie to start the game:

FORWARDS

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm
Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Matthew Tkachuk
Milan Lucic - Sam Bennett - Dillon Dube
Tobias Rieder - Mark Jankowski - Derek Ryan

DEFENCE

Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
TJ Brodie - Michael Stone
Oliver Kylington - Alexander Yelesin

GOALTENDER

David Rittich

UP NEXT:

The season-long-five road trip continues on Tuesday with a stop in Boston for the highly anticipated rematch with the league-leading Bruins. The Flames will then travel to face Nashville on Thursday, before finishing up the back with a pair of afternoon, Saturday in Tampa Bay, and Sunday in Florida.