Flames top Penguins in overtime

CALGARY -- Mark Giordano scored 2:19 into overtime, and Mike Smith made 43 saves to help the Calgary Flames to a 2-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.
Giordano took a cross-ice pass from Matthew Tkachuk and lifted a shot short side over goalie Tristan Jarry's shoulder.

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"I think everyone thought [Tkachuk] was coming back with that puck at center. I did, I know that," Giordano said. "He made a good move on two of their players, got two of them caught. The actual play to cut in and draw another guy to him … he has a knack for those big-time plays. I was happy to be able to bury that one for him."
Sean Monahan scored for the Flames (7-6-0), who are 2-1-0 on a seven-game homestand.
"When you win those low-scoring games, there's a lot of battles that go throughout the game … blocked shots and faceoffs and little things. I think everyone's playing their role right now and when we're doing that, we're winning," Monahan said.

Patric Hornqvist scored with 1:12 left in the third period, and Jarry made 32 saves in his first start of the season for the Penguins (8-5-2).
Pittsburgh, which won 3-2 at the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, is 0-4-1 and has been outscored 31-8 in the second of back-to-back games this season.
"This is one of the better games that we played, back-to-back or no back-to-back," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "This is definitely the best game we've played on this trip. We probably deserved a better fate. We liked a lot of our game tonight."
Monahan scored when he centered a rebound on Johnny Gaudreau's shot off Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin and into the net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead at 15:53 of the third period.
Hornqvist tied the game 1-1 when he deflected Kris Letang's point shot past Smith. Jarry was on the bench for the extra attacker.
"To be able to tie it up was good," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "Unfortunately, we couldn't get it done in overtime."
Smith made 19 saves in the first period, including a glove save on Hornqvist's shot from a sharp angle on the power play at 10:23, and a left pad save on Carl Hagelin's partial breakaway at 12:38.

"As a goalie you're standing back there and you can't really control what happens in front of you, so there's no sense in worrying about the shot clock," Smith said. "You just worry about the next save. I know it's cliché coming from a goalie, but it's the truth."
Jarry made 14 saves in the second, including Dougie Hamilton's initial shot from the high slot at 3:28 and his second opportunity at 3:32, and a pad save on Monahan's wrist shot from the high slot with five seconds remaining in the period.
"I thought he played really well," Crosby said. "I think that with the forwards they have and the skill level of the power play that they have, he was tested and did a great job for us and gave us a chance to win."

Goal of the game

Giordano's goal at 2:19 of overtime.

Save of the game

Smith against Conor Sheary 28 seconds into overtime.

Highlight of the game

Hornqvist's goal at 18:48 of the third period.

They said it

"He's been our No. 1 guy here since the first game of the season. He's kept us in a lot of games. We give a lot of credit to him. As a team, we know we have to be better as a group and help him out more." -- Flames forward Sean Monahan
"When you're in that kind of game, I think you just don't pass up shots and try to make sure that you're finishing on net. It's kind of a race to that first one most times. In this case, we were able to tie it up. Pretty tight hockey game. Both goalies played well. We've just got to find ways to win those." -- Penguins captain Sidney Crosby

Need to know

Letang has five assists in his past four games. … Gaudreau has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past eight games. … Flames forward Jaromir Jagr missed his fifth straight game because of a lower-body injury.

What's next

Penguins: At the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)
Flames: Host the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (9 p.m. ET; SN360, MSG+, NHL.TV)