Quips and Quotes: Flames beat Devils 9-4

The Calgary Flames beat the New Jersey Devils by a 9-4 score on Tuesday night. Here are selected reactions from players and coaches following the game.

You could be forgiven if you had concerns about the top line’s offensive production of late. Functionally speaking, the Flames had been propped up by some nice production from their bottom six and last game a big night from Mikael Backlund’s line.

Well, the first line seems to be back. Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm combined for 14 points and scored five goals en route to a Flames victory. Gaudreau had six points on his own, four of them in the third period to tie a franchise record.

“Some guys had some noticeable jump early in the game,” said Flames head coach Bill Peters. “Johnny skated real well. He skated real well against Vegas. If I remember he had nine or ten shots against Vegas. He had some opportunities tonight that found a way to go in. I thought the goal on the penalty shot was big, for him and for us, so that was a good sign.”

Lost a bit in all the hoopla regarding the six goal third period was the fact that the Flames were trailing after 40 minutes. Peters was fairly candid about the team’s defensive effort in the contest.

As is tradition, Peters shortened the bench in the third period. Andrew Mangiapane got zero shifts, Garnet Hathaway had two and Mark Jankowski had five – and those were due to Monahan’s brief absence for a concussion evaluation.