Flames rookie goalie David Rittich cared little about missing out

BUFFALO http://www.officialredwings.com/authentic-adidas-mike-green-jersey , N.Y. (AP) Flames rookie goalie David Rittich cared little about missing out on his first career shutout bid with 18 seconds left.The first 25 shots he stopped mattered more – and Calgary snapping a four-game skid to gain ground in a tightly contested Western Conference playoff race with a 5-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night.”How we get the two points, that’s more important right now,” said Rittich, who bounced back after a six-game stretch during which he went 1-4-1 and allowed 24 goals.”Yeah, it’s big for me right now,” he added. ”I had a couple, I’m not sure if it was bad, but the scores were terrible. Yeah, it’s a nice comeback.”Rittich’s only blemish was allowing Casey Nelson’s goal in the closing moments.Otherwise, Sam Bennett, Mark Jankowski and Mark Giordano each had a goal and an assist, while Sean Monahan and Dougie Hamilton also scored for Calgary.Coming off a 4-3 overtime loss at Pittsburgh on Monday Nick Jensen Jersey , the Flames improved to 1-3-1 in their past five. With 76 points, Calgary jumped into 10th place, a point ahead of idle St. Louis, and within one of Los Angeles and Colorado.The Flames won at Buffalo for just the second time in 14 trips (2-8-3 and a tie), and first time in regulation since a 3-1 win on March 15, 1996.The way Calgary dominated a game it outshot Buffalo 41-26 had coach Glen Gulutzan believing the Flames might be heating up just in time to mount a late-season playoff push.”You need traction,” he said.”Our team, when they get confident, they can get on a real good run. We’ve done it before,” Gulutzan added. ”Every little step is a big step for us.”The Flames took control in an opening period in which they outshot Buffalo 17-6.Bennett scored 5:35 in after a Sabres breakdown in front of their own net. Bennett drove to the net to collect a loose puck and snapped it over goalie Chad Johnson, who was flat on his back.Three minutes later, Bennett set up Jankowski’s goal by driving up the left wing and entering the Sabres zone. He fed a pass into the middle Thomas Vanek Jersey , where Jankowski used Nelson as a screen and snapped a 40-footer that sneaked in under Johnson’s left arm.Calgary didn’t let up during a three-goal second period.Giordano and Monahan scored 61 seconds apart to put Calgary up 4-0 with 13:59 left and chase Johnson, who finished with 18 saves.Hamilton then beat Robin Lehner with a shot inside the right post for a power-play goal with 1:21 left in the period.Buffalo squandered a chance to win three straight at home for the first time since a 4-0 run in January 2017, and came out inexplicably flat two days after a 5-3 win over Toronto.”It’s difficult to swallow,” coach Phil Housley said, by saying the Sabres failed to match the Flames intensity.”We talked about their desperation. You know, they’re saying these are their playoff lives, these next two games on the road,” Housley said. ”And I don’t think we respected that.”Rittich was hardly tested, though his best save came three minutes into second period, when he got his left shoulder up to stop Jason Pominville’s one-timer form the left circle during a Sabres power play.NOTES: The Sabres called up C Danny O’Regan from AHL Rochester to fill in after Kyle Criscuolo sustained upper-body injury in a 5-3 win against Toronto on Monday. O’Regan was acquired in the trade that sent Evander Kane to San Jose last week. … Flames LW Johnny Gaudreau had two assists in playing his 300th career game. … Gaudreau’s 56 assists this season are the most by a Flames player since Alex Tanguay had 59 in 2006-07. … The Flames once went 0-11 and a tie in 12 straight trips to Buffalo from March 11, 1979, when they were still in Atlanta Womens Adam Larsson Jersey , to Nov. 10, 1985.UP NEXTFlames: Close three-game road trip at Ottawa Senators on Friday.Sabres: At Ottawa on Thursday.— WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) Jonathan Marchessault was left unprotected in the expansion draft by the Florida Panthers, who seemed to determine his breakout season was a fluke.Oops.The Vegas Golden Knights selected Marchessault and he averaged nearly a point a game in the regular season, and leads the team with six goals and 15 points in the playoffs.Marchessault scored twice against the Winnipeg Jets in the series-tying 3-1 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference final Monday night.”Yeah, I’m satisfied with my game,” he said.Florida was not satisfied, apparently, even though he scored 30 goals in his first full season and had one year left on his contract for a relative bargain of $750,000.”I was surprised at the decision,” he acknowledged. ”I had a great season. I think I was one of the top four players at the forward position there, but they did the best decision for their organization. It’s been like that my whole career. It was a reality check. Just when you think you can be a little bit comfortable Cam Talbot Jersey , you can’t.”After I heard I was unprotected, I moved on and hoped that Vegas would pick me and they did.”When the Golden Knights saw up close how good Marchessault was as their leading scorer in early January, they signed him to a $30 million, six-year contract extension . He could have gambled on his future and cashed in even more on free agency this summer, but chose to stay with a team that finally believed in him.”It was not a tough decision,” said Marchessault, who finished the regular season with 27 goals and a career-high 75 points. ”When I saw they wanted to keep me long term, I was happy because I wanted stability in my life. It’s been a rollercoaster career. I was just happy to be able to buy a home and stay there.”The 5-foot-9, 174-pound Marchessault, married with three young children, bounced around earlier in his career after being undrafted.”First time I saw Marchy, he was a skilled guy who stayed on the outside. Didn’t really battle Youth Darnell Nurse Jersey ,” said Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant, who had Marchessault on his team in Florida before being fired. ”The reason why he’s a 30- to 40-goal scorer now is because he’s more competitive. He’ll go to those hard areas to score some goals. He plays a good, strong game. Small guy, but very competitive.”Before his 51-point season with the Panthers last season, he had a total of 19 points in parts of the three previous seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets and Tampa Bay Lightning.”I was always the underdog because of my size,” he said.Marchessault talked a big game after Vegas lost the series opener at Winnipeg, calling Monday a must-win game, and backed it up. He gave Vegas a two-goal lead in the first period and restored the two-goal lead 1:28 after Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor scored midway through the third.”If you’re going to talk out there in the media that you have to be better, I think you need to lead by example,” he said. ”I tried to do that.”Game 3 is Wednesday night in Las Vegas.—