Nashville Predators vs Calgary Flames Match Player Stats On Dec 08, 2018

Oliver Kylington scored his first NHL goal in a two-point game and Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan also netted one goal and one assist as the host Calgary Flames beat the Nashville Predators 5-2 Saturday night.

Goalie Mike Smith made 25 saves for his sixth consecutive victory as the Flames -- who are riding a five-game winning streak -- vaulted into the top spot in the Western Conference.

Kylington, a second-round pick in 2015, scored his milestone goal 72 seconds into the game to open the scoring, ripping a top-corner shot set up by Lindholm.

Colton Sissons drew Nashville even with 52.6 seconds left in the opening frame, redirecting a bouncing puck into net to give him six goals on the year, but Monahan restored Calgary's lead with the lone tally of the second period at 16:40 for his team-high 18th goal.

Again the visitors drew even when Craig Smith scored 54 seconds into the third period, but Garnet Hathaway scored the eventual game-winning goal with a right-out-of-the-playbook tally at 6:03 of the third period. The Flames won a faceoff and worked the puck to Matthew Tkachuk for a point-shot blast that Hathaway deflected home.

Alan Quine, who was called up due to injuries to the Calgary forward ranks, added a much-needed insurance tally six minutes later to make his first NHL game of the season even more memorable, and Lindholm iced the game with an empty netter with three minutes left on the clock.

Lindholm is riding a six-game point streak in which he's collected five goals and 11 points while Johnny Gaudreau collected two assists to give him four goals and 13 points in a seven-game spree.

The Flames were without captain Mark Giordano, who served the first outing of the two-game suspension he was handed for a knee-on-knee hit on Minnesota's Mikko Koivu on Thursday, and Mikael Backlund, who was injured late in that same game after taking a hard check.

Juuse Saros made 20 saves for the Predators, who have lost two straight and are 2-4-0 in their last six.

--Field Level Media