Sergei Kostitsyn completed a hat-trick late in the third period to help the Nashville Predators withstand a late charge and beat the road-weary Calgary Flames 5-3 on Sunday.
Nashville took a three-goal lead into the final period, but Calgary made it close with goals from Rene Bourque and Brendan Morrison, until Kostitsyn scored his third into an empty net with 30 seconds to play, handing the Flames a third straight loss.
“He’s shooting the puck,” Predators coach Barry Trotz said of his left wing. “We talked about him just doing that to create offense and not just to score a goal. I think he’s starting to get the message.”
Photo: Reuters
Calgary (18-17-5) are four games into a season-long seven-game road trip, while the Predators (21-14-4) earned a third consecutive win.
The Flames opened the scoring when captain Jarome Iginla notched his 15th goal of the season early in the first period, but Nashville tied it up on a goal by Kevin Klein, who returned from a six-game absence because of flu.
Klein had a chance to score the final goal of the game, but he was outskated by Kostitsyn.
“I’m glad for his hat-trick,” Klein said. “Those don’t come too often. I don’t really get paid to score, so it’s not a big deal.”
Kostitsyn gave his team a 2-1 lead late in the first period, while Matt Halischuk converted a goal in a second period in which Kostitsyn added his second goal.
It was another blown lead for the Flames after they squandered a 3-0 advantage in a 4-3 overtime defeat to Ottawa on Friday.
Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff had 22 saves in a losing effort and Pekka Rinne, who entered the game having allowed just two goals in his previous two games, needed just 17 stops to record the win for Nashville.
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