Atkinson's 2nd hat trick of season not enough in Blue Jackets' 9-6 loss to Flames

By AP
Published

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Johnny Gaudreau and the goal scorers on both sides had a fun, wild Tuesday night.

For Calgary goalie Mike Smith? Not so much.

"Not the way you draw it up," Smith said.

Gaudreau had two goals and two assists, and the Flames scored five goals in the second period to rally past the Columbus Blue Jackets 9-6.

"It's just one of those games," said Smith, who combined with Dave Rittich to stop 24 shots. "The chances were there and the pucks were finding a way to get in."

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said this game was unlike any of the more than 1,200 previous ones he's coached.

"They had 11 scoring chances and they scored nine goals," Tortorella said. "I have never been in a game like this."

Cam Atkinson netted a hat trick for Columbus to extend his point streak to 11 games, but the Blue Jackets lost their second straight.

"We played a really good first period, then for whatever reason sat back and let them play," Atkinson said. "I don't think we checked hard. We made it a really easy game for them, and they just capitalized."




















Sean Monahan also had two goals and two assists for Calgary, which scored five straight goals for a 6-4 lead during the second period.

Monahan opened that barrage 1:55 into the second, and Elias Lindholm, Matthew Tkachuk, Noah Hanifin and TJ Brodie followed with goals. Tkachuk, Hanifin and Brodie scored in a span of 1:53.

Monahan, Gaudreau and Austin Czarnik each scored in the third period for Calgary, which earned a point in its fifth straight game to stay atop the Pacific Division and improved to 17-9-2.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 18 of 26 shots for the Blue Jackets before being replaced in the third period by Joonas Korpisalo.

Zach Werenski, Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno also scored for Columbus.














NOTES: The Flames are 9-0-0 when Monahan has at least two points in a game this season and 8-0-1 when Gaudreau has a multipoint game. ... Werenski's goal was the 100th point of his career. ... The Blue Jackets, who allowed just one power-play goal over their previous seven games, gave up four Tuesday.

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Columbus plays at Philadelphia on Thursday.

Calgary heads home to face Minnesota on Thursday.