Karlsson, Korpisalo help Blue Jackets edge Flames

CALGARY -- William Karlsson scored two goals, and Joonas Korpisalo made 30 saves to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 2-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.
Matt Calvert had two assists for the Blue Jackets (21-28-5), who went 2-1-0 on their three-game Western Canada road trip after back-to-back wins. Columbus has won four of its past five games.

"It feels good," Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones said. "We're playing the right way right now, which is the most important thing, and we're playing as a team. No one is trying to do it by themselves. We're playing great hockey. Our goaltending has been phenomenal, [Korpisalo] in net, and our D corps has been pretty solid; we're not giving up too many goals per game, which is nice."
Jiri Hudler scored for the Flames (22-25-3), who have lost six of their past eight games.

"It is really frustrating," Calgary rookie forward Sam Bennett said. "We know how important the wins are right now, so we got to get on a streak and keep the wins going."
Karlsson scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the season to break a 1-1 tie early in the third period. He took a pass from Calvert on a 2-on-1 before sliding a shot past Flames goaltender Karri Ramo, off the post, and into the net at 1:42.
"It was a quick fire, I would say," Karlsson said. "I didn't really think much about that. I don't know how much space it was. Maybe I was lucky and it went in; post in."

Entering Friday, Karlsson had four goals in 52 games and Calvert had one assist in 44.
"It feels good to win and score two goals," Karlsson said. "Obviously, I haven't been too spoiled with the goals this year. It's always nice to score."
Korpisalo made 10 saves in the third to preserve the win.
"I think he's found his groove," Karlsson said. "He's playing really well. He seems very confident out there, calm. It's kind of contagious. It goes out on all of us players. He's been saving our [butts] for a while, it seems like. It feels great with a guy like that you can really count on. He's been great."
Korpisalo is 6-1-1 with a .945 save percentage in his past eight starts. The 21-year-old rookie has started six straight games with No. 1 goalie Sergei Bobrovsky (lower body) and backup Curtis McElhinney (ankle) injured.
"I'm not thinking about it," Korpisalo said. "I'm just trying to do my best every night and trying to enjoy this every day in here. Day by day.

"It's not easy, I can tell you. After the first game I played here, I knew that when I play good, I can do really good in this league. I've just got to do it every night, not just every second night. Every night."
Hudler opened the scoring at 7:09 of the first period, fooling Korpisalo with a wrist shot from 32 feet out that grazed the stick of Columbus center Alex Wennberg. The goal came 16 seconds after Ramo made a glove save against Boone Jenner, who was sprung on a breakaway by Cam Atkinson.
"Bottom line is one goal, you're not going to win many games in this league," Flames captain Mark Giordano said. "I don't know what else to say. We have to create more, we have to score more goals. Bottom line. Two goals against is pretty good on most nights."

Korpisalo made a glove save against Johnny Gaudreau from 15 feet out 1:11 into the second period. A shift later, he stopped Sam Bennett's initial shot and, from his stomach, a rebound attempt from Michael Frolik.
"Those kinds of desperation saves, you just try to get something in front of the puck, and tonight the puck hit me," Korpisalo said. "You have to save the puck, doesn't matter about style."
Karlsson tied it 1-1 at 9:39 of the second. Jones carried the puck into the Calgary zone and faked a shot before sliding a cross-slot pass that Karlsson one-timed past Ramo. The goal was Karlsson's first in 11 games dating to Jan. 12.
The Flames visit the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in the second of back-to-back games. The Blue Jackets start a five-game homestand Tuesday against the New York Islanders.