Dougie Hamilton scored his first two goals and added an assist Friday night to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
With the game tied 2-2 halfway through the second, Hamilton retrieved the puck from the sideboards, spun and whipped a shot from a bad angle over the shoulder of Chris Driedger.
It was the second goal on five shots to beat the rookie goaltender, who entered the game with a 2-1 lead to begin the second after Andrew Hammond left with a lower-body injury.
Hammond started because Craig Anderson, coming off a shutout in Vancouver on Tuesday, was granted a leave from the team to attend to a personal matter.
READ MORE: Dzingel, Anderson lead Senators over Canucks
Sam Bennett, Sean Monahan and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary (4-4-1). After a poor start, the Flames have won three straight. They will try to keep rolling Sunday when they welcome Washington to the Saddledome.
Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris scored for Ottawa (4-3-0). The Senators wrap up their road trip on Sunday in Edmonton.
Nursing a one-goal lead, Calgary put the game away with goals three minutes apart midway through the third period. Monahan scored his fourth on a wicked slap shot. Johnny Gaudreau had the set up for his second assist of the night. Frolik completed the scoring with his fourth of the year.
Driedger, who played three seasons of junior hockey for the Calgary Hitmen (WHL), finished the night with 11 stops.
The 22-year-old had only appeared in two NHL games previously and both were relief appearances.
The much busier and better goaltender was Brian Elliott, who made 31 saves for his third straight win.
After a rocky first three starts in a Flames uniform in which he gave up 14 goals on 87 shots, Elliott has been much sharper his last three starts yielding just five goals on 88 shots.
READ MORE: Brian Elliott solid in return to St. Louis, Calgary Flames beat Blues 4-1
Ottawa’s 2-1 lead to start the second period didn’t last long. Bennett fired in a centring pass from Alex Chiasson just 1:25 into the period to tie it.
Bennett has goals in three consecutive games and has six points during a four-game point streak.
The story of the first period was Ottawa’s 30th-ranked power play, which looked anything like that.
Trailing 1-0, the Senators needed just four seconds on their first man advantage for Karlsson to tie the game.
Two minutes later, Ottawa went back to the extra man and converted again, Turris’ shot eluding Elliott, who was screened by Zack Smith.
Notes: 2016 first-round pick Matthew Tkachuk played in his 7th game, creeping closer to the point where the Flames need to make a decision on whether to send him back to London (OHL). If he plays in a 10th game, the first year of his entry-level contract will kick-in…. In case Driedger got hurt, Calgary fireman and occasional Flames practice goalie fill-in Todd Ford got dressed and was on stand-by.
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