FLAMES BOTTLE LIGHTNING

The Flames punctuated their five-game winning streak with an impressive victory over the top team in the NHL on Thursday.

Led by a balanced scoring attack and another solid outing from goalie Mike Smith, the Flames skated to a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in front of 19,092 fans at Amalie Arena.

"It's definitely a big confidence boost for our group to keep the win streak alive and feel good about what we're doing here and keep this road trip going the right way," said Smith, who made 33 saves to improve his record to 19-13-3.

With the scored tied 1-1, Smith kept his paddle down to stop a penalty shot that was awarded to Lightning forward Cedric Paquette at 5:15 of the second.

"The turning point there was the penalty-shot save," said Flames coach Glen Gulutzan, whose team then rallied with four unanswered goals. "We'll take the win. That's a heck of a team over here. Boy, they've got some good players and I thought that Smitty and the penalty kill were the difference."
For the fourth straight game, Micheal Ferland scored the first goal of the game for the Flames - this time just 29 second into the first period.

Although the Lightning tied it up with a quick goal of their own to start the second, the Flames rallied for the win as Ferland, Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Jankowski all finished with a goal and an assist each.

"After that we really took over and did a lot of little things right," said captain Mark Giordano. "I thought we had a good second half of the game. I like the way we've been playing for a long time now. We went through a little stretch where we were losing a lot of … one-goal games. Now we're sort of getting on the right side of that."
Sam Bennett and Matthew Tkachuk also scored for the Flames (23-16-4), who moved into third place into the Pacific Division past the idle San Jose Sharks (21-13-6).

"It's a huge win against a very good team," Tkachuk said. "We all know what they've done so far this year. They were doing a lot of damage at home, so for us to come in and play the complete game we did, it's a good game."

Brayden Point scored the lone goal of the game for the Lightning (31-10-3) while goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 19 saves.

The Lightning actually had a pair of great scoring chances before Ferland's goal but Smith made a pair of nice saves as he stopped a tip-in attempt by Ondrej Palat and a slap shot off the stick of Victor Hedman.

Sean Monahan then took a pass from Gaudreau before skating into the Lightning zone and flipping a saucer pass over Hedman's stick to Ferland, who snapped a quick shot past Vasilevskiy.

The persistent forecheck of the Lightning paid off 31 seconds into the second period when Point took a pass from Tyler Johnson and snapped a shot from the slot over Smith's blocker, off the post and into the net.

After the Flames killed off two Lightning power-play chances, Gaudreau and Bennett scored goals 1:55 apart to take a 3-1 lead.

Gaudreau snuck in behind the Tampa Bay defence before he cut towards the Tampa Bay goal and tucked a shot around Vasilevskiy and into the net.

During a man advantage for the Flames, Bennett took a pass from TJ Brodie and fired a shot on net that deflected off the stick of Lightning defenceman Braydon Coburn and past Vasilevskiy.

Jankowski scored at 2:19 of the third when he took a pass from Garnet Hathaway before making a great toe-drag move in the slot and snapping a shot to the top corner, blocker side past Vasilevskiy.

Tkachuk added another goal for the visitors at 8:34 when he beat Vasilevskiy through the legs after taking a pass from Troy Brouwer.

ONE-TIMERS
Brodie's assist was his 200th career NHL point … Although Gaudreau had gone 10 games without scoring a goal, he recorded 10 assists and had a plus-seven rating during that span … Just how hot has the top-line of Gaudreau, Monahan, and Ferland been during Calgary's five-game winning streak? In addition to his goal, Gaudreau had nine helpers while Monahan (three goals, five assists) and Ferland (four goals, four assists) recorded eight points each … The Flames improved their road record to 11-5-4 while the Lightning now have a 17-4-1 mark one home ice … The Flames have compiled an 8-6-2 record against Eastern Conference opponents this season and are 15-0-1 when leading after two periods of play.

NEXT UP
The Flames face off against the Florida Panthers on Friday (5:30 p.m., TV: Sportsnet Flames, Radio: Sportsnet 960 The FAN) before wrapping up their four-game road trip on Sunday afternoon (1 p.m., TV: Sportsnet West, Radio: Sportsnet 960 The FAN) against the Carolina Hurricanes. They return to the Scotiabank Saddledome ice on Jan. 20 against the Winnipeg Jets for a Hockey Day In Canada matinee (1 p.m., TV: HNIC, Radio: Sportsnet 960 The FAN).