Flames down Golden Knights, remain unbeaten behind Backlund's winner
Lindholm, Toffoli also score for Calgary, which improves to 3-0
Grit from their rank and file helped the Calgary Flames overtake the visiting Vegas Golden Knights for a 3-2 win Tuesday.
The tenacity of forwards Brett Ritchie, Milan Lucic, Kevin Rooney, Blake Coleman and Trevor Lewis dragged the Knights into penalty trouble in a second period in which the Flames converted two of six power-play chances to tie the NHL game.
"These guys work really hard," Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau said. "I think they created so many opportunities and they put us on the power play three or four times in a row in the second.
Mikael Backlund scored the third-period game winner at 15:31 in Calgary's third straight victory to open the season, and kick off an eight-game homestand.
Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli also scored for the hosts in front of 16,944 at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves for the win in Calgary's net.
WATCH l Backlund's winner carry Flames past Golden Knights:
The Flames have so far beaten the defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche as well as two clubs expected to challenge Calgary for the Pacific Division title — the Edmonton Oilers and the Knights.
Huberdeau, acquired in an off-season trade with the Florida Panthers, assisted on Calgary's first two goals for his third point in as many games.
Kadri, signed as a free agent in August, had an assist for a goal and three assists in his first three games as a Flame.
William Carrier and Brett Howden scored their first goals of the season for Vegas (3-1), which sustained its first loss under new head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Knights netminder and Calgarian Logan Thompson stopped 37 of 40 shots in the loss.
'We'll definitely respond'
"We'll definitely respond," Thompson said. "It's a veteran group here, right? We know what we've got to do. We'll be better, we'll get back to practice and get back to work."
The Flames killed off a pair of hooking minors in the third before Backlund's go-ahead goal. Coleman collected the puck off the glass and dealt it out front to Backlund on Thompson's doorstep.
"Sick pass I thought," Coleman said with a grin. "I just wanted to make sure I made a hard play to the net."
Down 2-0 after the first period, the Flames drew even by 13:19 of the second on power-play goals from Toffoli and Lindholm.
Lindholm halved the deficit at 10:43 when Thompson juggled Lindholm's shot high into the air.
The Knights' goalie lost sight of the puck falling behind him as teammates Alec Martinez and Alex Pietrangelo tried to bat it away.
The Flames had two consecutive power plays to start the second period.
Cassidy successfully challenged Lindholm's goal for goalie interference at 4:39. Kadri was down in the crease when Lindholm banged in a rebound.
Vegas led by two at 15:23 of the first period on Howden's knee-high deflection of a Brayden McNabb shot from the blue line. Markstrom mistimed his attempted gloving of Carrier's wrist shot to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at 3:55.
Thompson's star rising
The Knights' goalie was a standout in the loss with 37 saves.
The 25-year-old robbed Toffoli in the first period when Thompson dove forward and gloved the puck flying by his ear. In January, Thompson was the first Canadian university goalie to earn an NHL start since 1990.
He spent the 2018-19 season with the Brock Badgers. Thompson is 2-1 this season and a career 12-6-3.
