By Canadian Press

Toffoli, Coleman each score twice, Flames win 7-2 in Vegas

Mar 16, 2023 | 11:01 PM

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tyler Toffoli and Blake Coleman each scored twice as the Calgary Flames defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 7-2 on Thursday night.

The Flames, who lost 13 of their previous 20 games, scored seven goals for the third time this season.

It marked the first time in nine meetings that the Flames won at Vegas since the Golden Knights joined the NHL in 2017. Before this one, the Knights had outscored Calgary 34-11 in Las Vegas.

MacKenzie Weegar, Mikael Backlund and Dillon Dube also scored for the Flames. Jacob Markstrom stopped 17 shots to win for the fourth time in his last six starts.

Jonathan Quick, who made 23 saves, lost for the first time since being acquired by Vegas.

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Zach Whitecloud and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights.

Calgary opened the scoring late in the first period when Rasmus Andersson gathered the puck from a faceoff in the right circle and fed Weegar, whose drive from the blue line lasered into the net past Quick.

Toffoli, who also assisted on Weegar’s goal, added to his stat sheet early in the second when he skated across the crease and around Quick to bury the puck and give the Flames a 2-0 lead.

Whitecloud put Vegas on the board later in the second when skated around the rim of the right circle and rifled a wrist shot past Markstrom, cutting Calgary’s lead in half with 7:27 left in the period.

Moments after missing an opportunity to tie the game earlier on a shift with a backhand that soared over the net, Smith made amends when he took William Karlsson’s feed at the doorstep and slammed it home, evening the game 2-all.

Calgary regained the lead quickly when Coleman tipped home Elias Lindholm’s shot from the right side of the goal line a little more than a minute after Smith’s goal.

The Flames began opening some breathing room midway through the third period when Backlund scored after trying to feed Toffoli from below the goal line. Instead, the puck caromed off Alex Pietrangelo’s stick and past Quick.

Toffoli and Coleman then added their second goals of the night before Dube closed out the scoring.

NOTES: Backlund is five games short of 900. … Smith has three goals and six assists in his last seven games for Vegas.

UP NEXT

Flames: Host the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

Golden Knights: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

W.g. Ramirez, The Associated Press