By Canadian Press

Tkachuk, Gaudreau lead Calgary Flames to 6-4 win over Seattle Kraken

Dec 30, 2021 | 10:27 PM

SEATTLE (AP) — Matthew Tkachuk scored the go-ahead goal with 2:26 left and had two assists as the Calgary Flames beat the Seattle Kraken 6-4 on Thursday night in their first game in nearly three weeks.

Johnny Gaudreau added two goals and assisted on the game-winner to give the Flames their first victory since Dec. 3. Milan Lucic, Andrew Mangiapane and Noah Hanifin also scored for Calgary, which handed Seattle its fourth straight loss.

Former Flames captain Mark Giordano had a goal and two assists in his first game against his old team, and Calle Jarnkrok added a goal and two assists for the Kraken. Yanni Gourde and Jared McCann also scored for Seattle, which got two assists from Colin Blackwell.

It was the Flames’ first game since Dec. 11 due to a COVID-19 outbreak. Twenty members of the team and coach Darryl Sutter were among 33 Calgary personnel who tested positive for the coronavirus during the club’s 19 days off.

Giordano opened the scoring at 5:48 with a slap shot from the high slot off a pass from Blackwell after Jarnkrok chased down the puck behind the net to start the scoring chance. The Kraken captain, selected in the expansion draft this summer, played 15 years for the Flames, serving as captain since 2013.

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The Flames answered four minutes later when Nikita Zadorov drew Kraken goaltender Chris Driedger out of the net with a fake, then passed to Gaudreau in the right faceoff circle for a one-timer to tie it at 1.

Giordano stuck it to his old team again nine seconds into the second period when he gathered in the opening faceoff, skated deep into Calgary’s end and found McCann in the slot. McCann misfired, but Jarnkrok put the rebound past Jacob Markstrom for a 2-1 lead.

Gaudreau tied it at 2 with his 12th goal of the season, a power-play rocket that beat Driedger glove side, bounced off the right post, then ricocheted off the left and into the net.

Gourde chased Blackwell’s pass to the crease and pushed it past Markstrom to tie it at 3 with 4:39 gone in the third.

Mangiapane and McCann exchanged goals late in the period before Tkachuk’s game-winner at 17:34. Hanifin, who also had an assist, added an empty-netter.

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Giordano became the 36th expansion player to score in his first game against his former team. He played 949 games for the Flames, second-most in team history.

NOTES: Seattle forward Jaden Schwartz is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Kole Lind was added to the lineup from the taxi squad. … Seattle’s goal nine seconds into the second was the team’s quickest to start a period. … Calgary recalled G Dustin Wolf, who used to play in nearby Everett, on an emergency basis from Stockton of the AHL. The team placed forward Brett Ritchie in COVID-19 protocol and assigned C Byron Froese to the taxi squad. … Seattle D Jamie Oleksiak appeared in his 400th career game.

UP NEXT

Flames: Calgary is at Chicago on Sunday.

Kraken: Seattle hosts Vancouver on Saturday.

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Chris Talbott, The Associated Press