CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - The Flames let their feet slip off the gas for a moment Sunday. Just not enough to lose the momentum of this startling winning streak.
Sean Monahan had a goal and an assist and Calgary beat the New York Islanders 5-2 on Sunday for its seventh straight victory.
The Flames left themselves plenty of room for error by jumping to a 4-0 lead in the first period behind goals from Michael Frolik, TJ Brodie, Micheal Ferland and Monahan.
The Islanders made a push in the second period and John Tavares cut the deficit to 4-1, but then Calgary locked things back down.
“It was nice to get those goals and to get them in the first period,” Monahan said. “They didn’t let up though. They kept coming, the Islanders there. They’re a good team, so I think we might’ve taken our foot of the gas a little bit and we definitely shouldn’t have.”
Kris Versteeg also scored for Calgary, and Brian Elliott made 33 saves. Elliott is 7-0-1 since his last regulation loss on Feb. 5 when he made 28 saves during a 4-3 loss in New York to the Rangers.
“You have to pile on as many points as you can on these streaks, but keep trying to get better,” Flames captain Mark Giordano said. “The key now for us is to not let any parts of our games slip. Here and there you see a few mistakes that we shouldn’t be making, but we have to clean those up and keep going forward.”
Jason Chimera also scored for the Islanders. They are 3-2-1 on a nine-game trip.
Thomas Greiss started in net for the Islanders and stopped 17 of 21 shots in the first period before being replaced by Jean-Francois Berube, who finished with 15 saves.
“Obviously, they’re playing with a lot of confidence and they had some jump playing at home with the way they’ve been playing,” said Tavares, who thought the Islanders were playing well until Calgary’s surge late in the first. “We had done an OK job up until that point, but then we just really shot ourselves in the foot. When you give up four goals like that, it’s hard to win in this league.”
Greiss stopped the first 16 shots before the Flames scored four goals in a 4:40 span late in the first.
Frolik started things off when he shoveled a sharp-angle shot past Greiss at 14:56. Brodie banked the puck off the New York goalie’s leg from behind the net at 16:28.
Ferland took a pass from Monahan 42 seconds later and fired a quick shot past Greiss. Monahan then converted a feed from Johnny Gaudreau to finish off a 3-on-1 with 23.3 seconds.
The Islanders rebounded with a better effort in the second period, but were only to score one goal when Tavares swatted a rebound past Elliott.
Versteeg added an insurance goal at 6:58 of the third, and Chimera replied for the Islanders at 11:32.
Notes: Islanders D Johnny Boychuk sat out with a sore foot after blocking a shot during a 2-1 shootout loss in Chicago against the Blackhawks on Friday night. … D Travis Hamonic suited up for his second straight game with the Islanders after missing the previous 24 outings with a lower-body injury. … D Matt Bartkowski had an assist on Versteeg’s goal for his first point in his eighth game with the Flames.
UP NEXT
Islanders: At Edmonton on Tuesday night.
Flames: Host Montreal on Thursday night.
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