Flames defeat Jets in Game 3 of Cup Qualifiers, take series lead

The Calgary Flames scored three power-play goals in a 6-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tuesday.

Calgary leads the best-of-5 series. Teams that win Game 3 after a series is tied 1-1 are 21-7 (75 percent) winning a best-of-5 NHL series (14-2 when last used from 1980-86).

"I thought tonight it was a complete team effort," Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk said. "The guys who are expected to score, scored. The guys expected to make great plays made great plays. The guy who is expected to save the puck, he did that as well. I felt today was a true team win. There wasn't one guy tonight who had an off game. I thought everybody played their best game of the series tonight."

Game 4 is in Edmonton, the Western Conference hub city, on Thursday (10:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, NHL.TV, SN). The series winner advances to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Sean Monahan had a goal and two assists, and Elias Lindholm, Johnny Gaudreau and Mikael Backlund each had a goal and an assist for Calgary, the No. 8 seed. Cam Talbot made 34 saves.

"It was up to us today to answer their push from last game and to get ourselves back leading the series," Tkachuk said. "It's a short series. It's flown by so far. We have a chance to close it out on Thursday. We've got to make sure we prepare as well as we can to make sure that happens."

Connor Hellebuyck made 26 saves for the Jets, the No. 9 seed.

"We need to win one game. That's it," Winnipeg captain Blake Wheeler said. "There's no magic to it. It would be the same mentality had we won today. We were looking to win the next game no matter what. We just have to learn from this one and come back tomorrow with a positive attitude and get ready for a huge game. A lot to be excited for."

The Jets played without forwards Mark Scheifele, Patrik Laine and Mason Appleton for the second straight game after each was injured in a 4-1 loss in Game 1 on Saturday.

"We're not coming to the rink for Game 4 with a feeling that we've let something slip away," Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice said. "From the first five minutes of that game, we've been fighting and trying. It hasn't been easy for us, we're not moving the puck the way we'd like to, for sure. But if there's one thing I have confidence in, I think the compete's going to be as good as we've got. What they leave on the ice in Game 4 will be all they have."

Jets forward Mathieu Perreault left Game 3 with an apparent lower-body injury at 13:13 of the second period.

The Flames, who have scored five power-play goals and one shorthanded goal in the series, were 3-for-4 on the power play after going 0-for-6 in Game 2.

"I thought that our power play had a huge bounce-back tonight," Calgary coach Geoff Ward said. "I thought our players did a really good job in terms of being more prepared for what we were going to see. It's just one game, but I thought our response from our power-play people was good today, and obviously it's a huge factor in the hockey game."

Nikolaj Ehlers put Winnipeg up 1-0 at 10:04 of the first period. Ehlers, who didn't score a goal in his first 22 NHL postseason games before scoring the game-winner in a 3-2 victory in Game 2 on Monday, is the first Jets/Atlanta Thrashers player to score a goal in the postseason on consecutive days.

Lindholm tied it 1-1 18 seconds later when he scored on the power play at 10:22.

Backlund made it 2-1 at 5:37 of the second period after Hellebuyck turned over the puck to Andrew Mangiapane. Milan Lucic scored 53 seconds later for Calgary, but Maurice challenged for goaltender interference, and the goal was overturned because Dillon Dube contacted Hellebuyck, preventing him from moving freely in the crease.

Monahan made it 3-1 at 7:49 on the power play, before Andrew Copp scored nine seconds into a Winnipeg power play with a backhand to cut the lead to 3-2 at 8:09.

Tkachuk scored on a centering pass from Mangiapane to put the Flames up 4-2 at 12:48.

"I thought it was a good period by us, in the second," Backlund said. "I thought we took a big step. We separated ourselves from the Jets. I thought we did a really good job on that in the second."

Lucic scored on the power play to make it 5-2 at 8:28 of the third period.

Gaudreau scored into an empty net at 17:41 for the 6-2 final.

"It's going to be everything for me," Hellebuyck said. "I've got to use this, and I plan on using this. This was an upset for me tonight. I don't see it being easy for them at all for the rest of the series, so they better scratch and claw for everything that they get."