Dougie Hamilton powers Flames past Jets

CALGARY -- Dougie Hamilton had two goals and an assist, and Mikael Backlund had a goal and two assists for the Calgary Flames in a 6-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.
Sam Bennett, Lance Bouma and Sean Monahan also scored, and Matthew Tkachuk had three assists for the Flames (16-13-2), who extended a season-long winning streak to six games. The streak is Calgary's longest since winning seven in a row Dec. 1-17, 2015.

WATCH: All Jets vs. Flames highlights
"We're just playing," Hamilton said. "I think everyone's contributing, so everyone is feeling good about themselves. It's easy to play that way. We're in a busy schedule so you just try to stay in the groove and try to keep playing hard every game and do the same things we need to do to win."
Nikolaj Ehlers and Jacob Trouba scored, and Michael Hutchinson made 25 saves for the Jets (13-15-3), who have lost three straight games (0-2-1) after winning four of five. Winnipeg will play the second of back-to-back games at the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
"We just weren't good enough," Ehlers said. "That's just something we've got to change."
Hamilton scored twice as part of a four-goal second period. He scored at 8:29 to put Calgary up 1-0, and Bennett made it 2-0 at 13:00.

Hamilton scored again at 15:20 with a slap shot from the point that beat Hutchinson on the short side, and Backlund made it 4-0 on a sharp-angled shot on the power play at 17:52.
"We had chances in the first but in the second it was really a lopsided period after the first five, seven minutes," said Tkachuk, who assisted on both of Hamilton's goals. "They came at us hard and we had to come back with a little bounce-back of our own, and I think we did."
Bouma scored 3:31 into the third period to make it 5-0 when he backhanded a shot by Connor Hellebuyck, who replaced Hutchinson to start the third period.
Ehlers beat Chad Johnson on the power play at 13:59 with his first goal in 16 games to cut the lead to 5-1, but Monahan scored with 3:32 remaining to extend his point streak to seven games (4 goals, 5 assists).
Trouba shot by Johnson's glove with 0.1 seconds remaining to make it 6-2.
"We didn't play the game," Ehlers said. "We didn't play hard enough. We didn't play smart. They scored some quick goals there."
Johnson finished with 26 saves.

Goal of the game

Trailing the rush, Bennett took a pass from Johnny Gaudreau in the high slot and skated in before shooting over Hutchinson's glove.

Save of the game

Johnson stopped Dustin Byfuglien's slap shot from the point and stretched out his left pad to stop Bryan Little's rebound attempt from just outside the top of the crease at 12:20 of the first period.

Unsung performance of the game

Mark Giordano dove and swung his stick to knock the puck away from Jets defenseman Paul Postma and out of Calgary's end at 7:20 of the third period after a turnover helped keep an offensive zone play alive for Winnipeg.

Highlight of the game

Off the rush, Hamilton took a drop pass from Tkachuk and used him and Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot as a screen to shoot through Tkachuk's legs and by Hutchinson's glove for his first of two goals. "I saw their 'D' and [Tkachuk] and just kind of waited until I could see some white space in there," Hamilton said. "As soon as it opened up, I tried to put it through. I couldn't see the goalie so I was just trying to put it through their legs and upstairs."

They said it

"It makes it really easy just because we're not relying on a couple guys. We know every night something different is probably going to happen and it seems like we're getting basically everybody involved. Our six 'D' are playing great and 12 forwards, everyone is doing something, and obviously we're getting great goaltending. We've just got to keep this rolling. It's been really fun the last little while when you're having success." -- Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk
"We've got to get it out of our mind and focus on tomorrow and have that fire in our belly." -- Jets forward Mark Scheifele

Need to know

Gaudreau has four straight multipoint games (2 goals, 6 assists) since returning from a fractured finger. … The Flames have power-play goals in five consecutive games. … Johnson has started six in a row and 13 of the past 15 games for the Flames. … Hutchinson started consecutive games for the Jets for the first time since Oct. 28-30. … Byfuglien had a six-game point streak end.

What's next

Jets: At the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; SNOL, SNW (JIP), TSN3, NHL.TV)
Flames: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; SN, SN360, SUN, NHL.TV)