Flames defeat Senators for third straight win

CALGARY -- Dougie Hamilton had two goals and an assist, and Brian Elliott made 31 saves to help the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday.
Sam Bennett, Sean Monahan and Michael Frolik also scored for the Flames (4-4-1), who have won three straight games.

"We're just recognizing who we are," Elliott said. "I think at the start of the year we didn't really know what kind of team we were and how to play effectively. Now guys are really buying into what we need to do."
Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris scored for the Senators (4-3-0), who have split the first two games of a three-game road trip through Western Canada after a 3-0 win at the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.

"I think we're playing fine and we're doing a lot of good things out there," Karlsson said. "This could have easily been a different game. We've just got to hope that if we keep doing this, one of these days it's going to be the other way around for us."
The Flames trailed 2-1 before scoring four straight goals.
Bennett tied the game 2-2 at 1:25 of the second period, and Hamilton beat goaltender Chris Driedger at 10:26 with a sharp-angled shot that deflected off Senators defenseman Marc Methot to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.
Driedger entered the game to begin the second period after starter Andrew Hammond sustained a lower-body injury in the first. Driedger was recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League on Thursday after the Senators granted No. 1 goaltender Craig Anderson an indefinite leave of absence for a personal matter.

"I'm sure it's very tough. He's a young guy coming in," Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said of Driedger, 22. "Everybody knows right now we've got some adversity. Our No. 1 goalie is out and our backup is out. I know the kid probably didn't expect to play and he comes in, and I'm sure it was tough, but it'll benefit him in the future."
Monahan one-timed a pass from Johnny Gaudreau by Driedger's blocker at 9:33 of the third period to give the Flames a 4-2 lead, and Frolik scored at 12:19 to make it 5-2.
Driedger, in his third NHL appearance, allowed four goals on 15 shots.
"I guess this is the third time I've been thrown in," he said. "The first two went a little bit better than this one. They can't all be perfect games, so I'm just trying to look to bounce back as soon as I can."
Hamilton beat Hammond to give Calgary a 1-0 lead 5:24 into the game, but Ottawa scored on consecutive shots on separate power plays to take a 2-1 lead.
Karlsson tied it 1-1 at 11:31, and Turris shot from the top of the left faceoff circle by Elliott to put the Senators up 2-1 at 14:51.

Goal of the game

Karlsson one-timed a pass from Mike Hoffman through a screen and by Elliott four seconds into a power play he drew against Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk for holding the stick. The goal, on Ottawa's fourth shot of the game, came off Derick Brassard's faceoff win.

Save of the game

Elliott made a quick save off of Bobby Ryan's one-timer on the power play at 4:56 of the second period after battling Brassard in the crease. "We were wrapped up. Tangled," Elliott said. "I couldn't get free, and he couldn't get free."

Unsung moment of the game

Karlsson fanned on a slap shot following a faceoff win in the Flames zone at 6:25 of the first period but recovered in time to catch Tkachuk in the Senators zone to negate a scoring chance.

Highlight of the game

Bennett chipped his third goal of the season over Driedger after a no-look backhand pass from below the goal line from Alex Chiasson. "It's an instinct play," said Chiasson, who was acquired by the Flames from the Senators on June 27. "You draw it up on the power play where guys are supposed to be. I didn't think about it much. That's when you know that you're feeling the puck."

They said it

"Some nights it's going to go off our guys and out, and sometimes it's in. I think this game was a 'stick with it game' and who could do it the longest. We definitely did it tonight. We didn't crack. We bent, but we didn't break. That's the type of hockey it takes to win. It's a good team over there. They have some skill. We beat them, I think, in their zone." -- Flames goaltender Brian Elliott
"It's tough, but that's the business that we're in. Things like this are going to happen. I don't think that we changed our game. I don't think that [backup goalie Chris Driedger] did anything wrong when he came in. He gave us a chance. They just scored on the chances that they had. They scored from the corner; they hit the boards, and it bounced. That's the way it's going to be sometimes." -- Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson
"You get traded. It's part of the business. But for me, I think I've had some good games this year, and there's times where maybe I wasn't rewarded on the scoreboard. That's part of hockey. Sometimes they start going. Sometimes they come in and they're harder to go in. But it was definitely nice to get a couple points for our team. A big win. It's also nice mainly to beat my old team. That's really what matters." -- Flames forward Alex Chiasson

Need to know

Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot, the No. 18 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft, was a healthy scratch for the sixth time in seven games. … Flames defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka played in place of Nicklas Grossmann after being scratched against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.

What's next

Senators: At the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (9 p.m. ET; SNOL, RDSI, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Flames: Home against the Washington Capitals on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; SNF, CSN-DC+, NHL.TV)