CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Calgary Flames coach Bill Peters is seeing a payoff for moving newcomer Elias Lindholm onto the Flames’ top line.
Lindholm scored his first two goals with Calgary and the Flames scored four unanswered goals in the third period for a 7-4 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
The Swede, acquired from the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade at the June draft, scored a power-play goal that was the eventual game-winner at 14:28 of the third period.
With Canucks forward Nikolay Goldobin serving a slashing penalty, Lindholm beat goalie Jakob Markstrom on the short side off a cross-ice feed from Johnny Gaudreau.
Gaudreau had a goal and two assists, joining Lindholm, who added an assist, in a three-point game.
“Most guys take some time to fit into new systems but he was able to slot in right away,” Peters said. “The line with him, (Sean) Monahan and Gaudreau has a lot of potential heading into this season.”
Flames captain Mark Giordano and Monahan also scored for Calgary (1-1-0), with Austin Czarnik and Michael Frolik adding empty-net goals. Matthew Tkachuk had four assists.
“Monny’s a goal-scoring center and Johnny’s a play-making winger,” Peters said. “It used to be your center made plays and your winger scored goals, so they’ve got that a little bit flip-flopped. That’s fine.”
Flames starter Mike Smith made 16 saves for the win, while Markstrom had 30 saves in the loss.
Elias Pettersson scored two goals and assisted on another for the Canucks, who beat the visiting Flames 5-2 in Wednesday’s season-opener.
The 19-year-old Swede has five points in his first two career NHL games.
“Dynamite,” Canucks head coach Travis Green said. “He was our best player tonight. He was one of the bright spots in the game. A few guys played OK. We had some guys that needed to play better.”
Brandon Sutter scored a short-handed goal and Bo Horvat had a goal for Vancouver, which led 4-3 heading into the third period.
Monahan’s power-play goal at 9:27 of the third tied the game at 4-4. After the center redirected a cross-ice pass from Gaudreau by Markstrom, Smith robbed Goldobin with a glove save.
Penalized for hauling down Pettersson near Calgary’s net late in the second period, Flames defenseman Michael Stone joined Giordano in the penalty box and the Canucks had a two-man advantage.
Horvat redirected Pettersson’s feed for a power-play goal at 16:57.
Tkachuk tucked the puck into the corner of Vancouver’s net during a goal-mouth scramble, but a coach’s challenge wiped out the goal in the second period.
But Gaudreau then banged in a rebound off a Monahan shot for a power-play goal at 9:31 to even the score 3-3.
Pettersson scored his second goal with a shot from the face-off circle at 2:52 on the power-play.
Giordano tied the game 2-2 at 17:08 of the first period. Calgary’s captain beat Markstrom with a wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle.
The visitors led 2-1 on a Sutter’s short-handed goal at 16:38. He beat Smith with a shot under the arm on a 2-on-1.
Pettersson swept the puck by Smith’s glove from the slot at 13:50 for his first goal of the night.
Lindholm scored his first goal just 12 seconds after the opening puck drop.
After winning the offensive-zone faceoff, the Swede tipped T.J. Brodie’s wrist shot from the boards by Markstrom.
NOTES: Calgary was minus defenseman Travis Hamonic on Saturday because of a facial fracture he sustained in a fight Wednesday with Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbrandson. … Noah Hanifin moved up to partner Stone on Calgary’s No. 2 defensive pairing. Dalton Prout drew into the lineup alongside rookie Juusu Valimaki, who turned 20 on Saturday.
