Lightning score twice in opening 90 seconds, top Flames for 5th win in row

TAMPA -- The Tampa Bay Lightning scored twice in the opening 1:26 en route to their fifth straight victory, 5-1 against the Calgary Flames at Benchmark International Arena on Wednesday.

Brandon Hagel extended his goal streak to three games (five goals) to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead 39 seconds into the first period, finishing a 3-on-2 rush with a shot that beat Dustin Wolf to the far post. Charle-Edouard D'Astous then scored 47 seconds later to make it 2-0 on a one-timer from the point with Gage Goncalves providing the screen.

"Let me just sum it up for you, I loved our start, loved that we were filling the net, we were doing all of the right things and we were playing with a purpose," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "Hated all the penalties we took, but I thought our penalty kill was outstanding."

Hagel and Nikita Kucherov each had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (14-7-2), who have won eight of 10 (8-2-0). Jake Guentzel had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves.

"It's another solid victory for us at home," Cooper said. "And now we'll go see if we can do this on the road."

Joel Farabee scored for the Flames (8-14-3), who had won three straight. Wolf gave up three goals on four shots before he was replaced at 5:52 of the first period by Devin Cooley, who stopped 17 of 19 shots.

"You can't be down 3-0 five minutes into a game, it doesn't work against good teams," Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. "You're not going to come back in those situations. Not the start we were looking for, for sure."

Zemgus Girgensons extended it to 3-0 at 5:52 of the first when he sent the puck to the net from outside the left circle and it deflected off Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl's stick and past Wolf, who was then pulled for Cooley. It was Girgensons’ 200th NHL point.

"It was awesome, a good feeling," Girgensons said. "It was beautiful hockey, just direct hockey. We got those four quick (goals) and it was good to start that way. It makes the game easier after that, It's maybe mentally a little harder to do the right things throughout the game, but I think the guys did a good job overall."

Declan Carlile’s first goal of the season pushed it to 4-0 at 10:21, a wrist shot from the left circle under Cooley’s pads.

"For a team that's really good in the first period like Tampa is, you have to make sure you're on with your details," Huska said. "And I don't think our details were good enough early on in tonight's game."

Farabee scored a short-handed goal to make it 4-1 at 1:04 of the third period on a shot from the right circle.

"After they scored the fourth, we tried to claw our way back and it was an even game after that," Flames center Mikael Backlund said. "But we can't give games away in the first. It's a tough league to come back [against] any team when you're down 4-0.

Kucherov made it 5-1 at 14:23 when he finished off a 2-on-1 rush with Hagel providing the setup pass.

"Obviously they've been on a little hot streak there," Carlile said. "So you knew they were going to come out hot and we had to respond. It was nice to get out early."

NOTES: Farabee has four goals in his past four games. ... Hagel has nine points (five goals, four assists) during a three-game point streak. ... Kucherov has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) during a seven-game point streak. ... Lightning forward Pontus Holmberg had an assist in his return to the lineup after missing seven games with an undisclosed injury. … Girgensons became the third Latvia-born player in NHL history to record 200 career points (96 goals, 104 assists), joining Sandis Ozolinsh (564 points) and Sergei Zholtok (258).