Frost scores twice, Flames hand Ducks 5th straight loss

ANAHEIM -- Morgan Frost scored twice, and the Calgary Flames held on for a 5-3 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Saturday.

Joel Farabee and Matvei Gridin each had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Strome also scored for the Flames (32-36-8), who had lost their previous two games by combined score of 15-5. Kevin Bahl had two assists, and Devin Cooley made 36 saves.

Calgary avoided elimination from Stanley Cup Playoff contention with the win.

"This is a bit of a tough road trip at the end of the year, length and quality of opponent," Strome said. "Nice to get one here."

Beckett Sennecke, Leo Carlsson and Mason McTavish scored for the Ducks (41-31-5), who have lost five in a row (0-4-1), including 6-2 to the St. Louis Blues on Friday. Ville Husso made 15 saves.

Anaheim is tied in points with the Edmonton Oilers atop the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights.

“We’ve got to figure it out now," Carlsson said. "I know that we’re a good team, too. Just got to figure it out.”

Sennecke gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead at 10:11 of the first period. He caught a stretch pass from Jackson LaCombe in stride into the offensive zone, split the defense and powered to the net. Cooley stopped the initial shot, but Sennecke was able to backhand the rebound between his legs and across the goal line.

Farabee tied it 1-1 on a breakaway at 13:24.

Gridin blocked a shot by Olen Zellweger and then made a stretch pass to Farabee, who roofed a backhander over Husso's glove.

"It was kind of one of those shifts where we were grinding in the D-zone," Farabee said. "Zellweger threw a sifter, really good block by Grids, and really great play for him to find me."

The Ducks outshot the Flames 16-6 in the opening period.

Strome, who was traded to Calgary by Anaheim on March 6 for a seventh-round pick in the 2027 NHL Draft, put the Flames ahead 2-1 at 1:20 of the second period. He snuck behind the defense for a short breakaway and snapped a bouncing puck under Husso's glove and off his right pad before it trickled over the goal line for his 500th NHL point (174 goals, 326 assists).

"It's a tough League to score in," Strome said. "I just try to be consistent in my career as much as I could, and to be a steady point producer is not easy. I know it's not like Hall of Fame numbers or anything, but for me it's something that I'm proud of."

Gridin made it 3-1 at 7:49 when he tapped in a pass from Farabee into an open net to finish a short 2-on-1 rush.

“Pushing a little too hard, maybe, trying to get those grade A chances, and then we leave such a hole in the defense," Carlsson said. "Just too many breakways.”

Frost increased the lead to 4-1, sliding a wrist shot five-hole while on a breakaway at 18:44 for his 20th of the season.

"I hope one day I can score 30, but 20 is very cool for me," Frost said. "Definitely not something I would do, so I'll build for the next milestone."

Carlsson cut the deficit to 4-2 at 7:49 of the third period. Calgary defenseman Zach Whitecloud deflected Carlsson's attempted centering pass back to him, and he roofed the puck over a sprawling Cooley from in front.

McTavish brought the Ducks to within 4-3 with a power-play goal at 9:51. He collected Alex Killorn's pass from below the goal line, skated into the right circle and buried a snap shot that went in off Cooley's left shoulder.

Anaheim has six wins this season after trailing in the final two minutes of a game, the most in NHL history, but it wasn't able to get the tying goal with Husso pulled for the extra skater.

"We got going in the third with some possession and zone time and opportunities," Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've been fortunate (to come back) all year, tonight it didn't happen."

Frost secured the 5-3 final with an empty-net goal at 18:49.

"The first 10 minutes of the third period, we were pretty locked down," Frost said. "We knew they were going to come, it was a big game for them. We found a way to win in the third, so happy for the effort."

NOTES: The Flames extended their point streak against the Ducks to nine games (5-0-4). ... Strome has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in 15 games with Calgary after producing nine points (three goals, six assists) in 33 games with the Ducks this season. ... Sennecke leads NHL rookies with 23 goals. He also tied Trevor Zegras (23 in 2021-22) for the third-highest single-season goal total by a rookie in franchise history. Only Bobby Ryan (31 in 2008-09) and Dustin Penner (29 in 2006-07) have more. ... Carlsson has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in his past 11 games. ... Sennecke (58 points; 23 goals, 35 assists) passed Ryan (57 in 2008-09) for the second-most points in a season by a Ducks rookie. Zegras holds the franchise mark (61 in 2021-22). ... Anaheim defenseman Tyson Hinds made his NHL debut after being recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League earlier in the day. He had four shots on goal and one block in 23:22 of ice time.