CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Dougie Hamilton wasn’t going to change his approach after being held without a goal through Calgary’s first eight games. His patience paid off Friday night.
Hamilton scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist to lead the Flames to a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators for their third straight win.
“For me, I have to get pucks on net. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t, you just have to keep shooting,” said Hamilton, who entered the game with 22 shots, second on the team.
Hamilton broke a 2-2 tie halfway through the second when, from the sideboards, he spun and whipped a shot from a bad angle over Chris Driedger’s shoulder.
It was the second goal on five shots to beat the rookie goaltender, who entered the game with a 2-1 lead. He took over to begin the second after Andrew Hammond left with a lower-body injury.
“There was definitely a little bit of nerves early,” said Driedger, who finished with just 11 stops on 15 shots in his third NHL appearance. “A tough game to stay into with not a lot of shots, but there’s no excuses.”
Sam Bennett, Sean Monahan and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary. Johnny Gaudreau and former Senator Alex Chiasson each had two assists.
Brian Elliott stopped 31 shots and has started each game during the Flames’ winning streak.
“He’s a veteran guy and he knows how to manage the ebbs and flow,” Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. “He’s a worker, he’s a grinder, and he stays with it and he got rewarded tonight. After those two bounces, he played really good for us.”
After a rocky first three starts in a Flames uniform in which he gave up 14 goals on 87 shots, Elliott has been much sharper his last three starts while yielding just five goals on 88 shots.
“At the start of the year we didn’t really know what kind of team we were and how to play effectively,” Elliott said. “Now guys are really buying into what we need to do.”
Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris scored for Ottawa.
“(Driedger) gave us a chance. They just scored on the chances that they had,” Karlsson said. “They scored from the corner, they hit the boards and it bounced. That’s the way it’s going to be sometimes.”
Bennett tied the game 2-2 just 1:25 into the second on a setup from Chiasson. He has goals in three consecutive games and has six points during a four-game point streak.
The story of the first period was Ottawa’s 30th-ranked power play, which looked anything like that.
Trailing 1-0, the Senators needed just 4 seconds on their first man-advantage for Karlsson to tie the game. Two minutes later, Ottawa went back to the extra man and converted again, with Turris’ shot eluding Elliott, who was screened by Zack Smith.
NOTES: Senators starting goalie Craig Anderson, coming off a shutout in Vancouver on Tuesday, was granted a leave from the team to attend to a personal matter. … Driedger, who played three seasons of junior hockey for the Calgary Hitmen (WHL), appeared in his third NHL game - all in relief. … Calgary first-round pick Matthew Tkachuk played in his seventh game, creeping closer to the point where the Flames need to make a decision on whether to send him back to London of the OHL. If he plays in a 10th game, the first year of his entry-level contract will kick-in.
UP NEXT
Senators: At Edmonton on Sunday night before returning home for three games in five days.
Flames: Host Washington on Sunday night before heading out on a four-game trip.
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