Jonathan Huberdeau picked up his first goal with the Calgary Flames in a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Nazem Kadri added two goals and an assist, and Jacob Markstrom made 32 saves as Calgary continued their fine start to the season with a fifth win in their first six games.
"We want to get better", Huberdeau said. "But I think if we play like this a lot of games, we're going to be in a good position. We've got to work on some things, obviously, but overall, that's the start we want. Every game take a lead and after that, if we can play well defensively, and it's going to work out good for us."
Evgeni Malkin scored Pittsburgh's only goal and Casey DeSmith stopped 32 shots as the Penguins slumped to a second straight defeat.
"If we look at our season to date, we were on a pretty good roll there", forward Jeff Carter said. "Offensively we were having our way for the most part. Sometimes when that happens early, you kind of get in that mindset that everything's going to continue going that way. I think maybe we got caught in that a little bit here. The way that we win is by sticking to our game plan, sticking to our details, and we just haven't had that the last couple of nights."
Flames roll past flat Penguins
Kadri scored twice in a 3:30 minute span in the first period, taking a pass from Andrew Mangiapane from below the goal line and then firing over DeSmith's blocker in a two-on-one.
"You always want to start off strong", he said. "Getting the first goal, I think your percentages go up automatically if you score the first goal. We always try to get off to a good start and establish home ice. We want this to be a hard place to come into and get a win."
Kadri's going to go in.", who signed a seven-year, $49 million contract ($7 million average annual value) with Calgary on Aug. 18, has nine points (four goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak to start the season.
"It's been good, for sure", he said. "I've fit in nicely. Credit to the guys, they've made me feel pretty welcomed, and the staff and, everybody in the city of Calgary. It's always nice getting wins."
Huberdeau stretched the lead to 3-0 three minutes into the second period as he beat DeSmith with a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle while the Flames were on a power play.
It was his first goal in a Calgary uniform after being acquired from Florida on July 22.
"It feels good, obviously, to get the first one out of the way", he said.
"I got it up top and I had a really nice screen in front, so I just had to kind of pick that corner and it worked out. I've just got to shoot a little bit more and it's going to go in."
Malkin converted on a rebound of Carter's shot on the power play to cut it to 3-1, but a slap shot by Michael Stone with 8:40 left in the second period completed the scoring.
"That's a little battle we can take from this game", said Dumoulin of the second period after outshooting Calgary 21-4 in the second period. "I'm a positive guy and we need to take some positives right now, and that's definitely one of them. Going forward now, we still have two important games for this road trip and we can still come out with a winning record here, so that's our focus."