CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Ryan O’Reilly had his fifth NHL hat trick to help the Nashville Predators beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 on Saturday for their second victory in two nights.
Justus Annunen made 31 saves a night after Juuse Saros stopped 27 shots in a 3-0 victory iin Vancouver. Rookie center Fedor Svechkov also scored and had an assist for his first career multi-point game. Filip Forsberg had two assists.
Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary, and Dustin Wolf made 24 saves. The Flames have lost consecutive games for the first time since November.
O’Reilly opened the scoring on the power play at 4:21 of the second, lifting a puck over Wolf from in close after Svechkov worked the puck out front from behind the net.
Takeaways
Nashville: After making his NHL debut in Vancouver on Friday, 22-year-old Ozzy Wiesblatt was back in the lineup for Nashville in the city in which he played his minor hockey. Supportive signs adorned the glass during warmups while friends and family looked on.
Flames: It was a hard luck return to the lineup for struggling winger Andrei Kuzmenko, a scratch in seven of the previous eight games. A 39-goal scorer two years ago but stuck at just one this season, Kuzmenko was in the penalty box for both Predators’ power-play markers as they built a 2-0 lead. His second infraction was for playing with a broken stick.
Key moment
With Calgary down 1-0 and the sides playing four aside, a defensive zone turnover gave Jonathan Huberdeau a clean breakaway, but Calgary’s leading goal scorer was turned away by Annunen. Just over a minute later, O’Reilly made it 2-0.
Key stat
Calgary gave up a power-play goal for the sixth consecutive game.
Up next
Both teams are back in action on the road Tuesday night. The Predators will face Winnipeg, and the Flames will visit Anaheim.
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