Flames Beat Maple Leafs 5-2 for Fourth Straight Win: Matvei Gridin Scores Twice, Captain Mikael Backlund Ties for Fifth on Franchise Points List
The Calgary Flames beat the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Monday night, October 26, for their fourth straight win. According to Reuters, Matvei Gridin scored two goals and added an assist to lead Calgary. Captain Mikael Backlund scored to move into a fifth-place tie with Johnny Gaudreau for all-time points as a Flame. Joel Farabee and Martin Pospisil each had a goal and an assist, Matt Coronato and Simon Nemec added two helpers each, and goaltender Devin Cooley made 26 saves and was credited with an assist. Toronto's Sergei Bobrovsky had 29 saves on 32 shots.
Gridin opened the scoring 10:05 into the game, driving into the offensive zone on the outside and launching the puck over Bobrovsky's shoulder from a tight angle. Backlund made it 2-0 just 1:45 later after Easton Cowan coughed up the puck in his own end and Coronato played it through the slot to the captain, who was returning from a two-game injury absence. Only 25 seconds into the second period, Zayne Parekh played a long stretch pass to Gridin, who wristed it past Bobrovsky on the power play for 3-0. Cowan got Toronto on the board at 12:54 of the second, tipping in a slap pass from Troy Stecher.
William Nylander brought the Maple Leafs within a goal 6:06 into the third period, finishing a one-handed pass from Jack Roslovic through a maze of bodies. Calgary closed it out with two empty-net goals: Farabee with 1:25 remaining and Pospisil with 39 seconds left. Maple Leafs winger Kirill Marchenko left the game with a lower-body injury after an awkward fall early in the second period. The game marked the Maple Leafs' final regular-season appearance at the Saddledome.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：火焰主场 Scotiabank Saddledome 夜景，背景为 Calgary 市中心天际线（资料图）。图片：AceYYC 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0（Wikimedia Commons）。Photo: Scotiabank Saddledome, home of the Calgary Flames, at night with the downtown Calgary skyline behind it (file photo). Credit: AceYYC, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
