CALGARY — Lance Bouma scored twice as the Calgary Flames scored four unanswered goals in a furious third-period comeback, winning 4-2 over the Edmonton Oilers.
Trailing 2-0 entering the final 20 minutes, Paul Byron got the comeback started deflecting in Mason Raymond’s shot at 2:56.
The Scotiabank Saddledome then erupted when Bouma tied it 2-2 at 6:16 after snapping a shot through the pads of Ben Scrivens.
The go-ahead goal came 2:33 after that on a power play. Sean Monahan tried to centre a pass but instead the puck deflected past Scrivens off the skate of Oilers defenceman Keith Aulie.
It was the team-leading 16th goal for the 20-year-old sophomore, who also has four game-winning goals.
Bouma wrapped up the barrage converting a two-on-one pass from Mikael Backlund for his first career two-goal game at 16:27.
It was an important victory for Calgary (27-20-3). It moves the club three points up on the Los Angeles Kings, who are chasing the Flames for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Calgary now leads the NHL with 63 third-period goals, which has helped the team to win a league-high nine games when trailing after two periods (9-15-1).
Jordan Eberle and Benoit Pouliot replied for Edmonton (13-28-9), which had won three of its previous four.
The Oilers remain second-last in the NHL’s overall standings, four points up on Buffalo.
Jonas Hiller had 17 stops for Calgary to improve his record to 15-14-2 while Scrivens had 29 saves for Edmonton, falling to 9-17-7.
Edmonton struck first, opening the scoring at 2:43 on its second shot of the game.
Off a faceoff in the Flames end, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins out worked Matt Stajan for the puck, knocking it into the slot where Eberle put a quick shot past Hiller.
It was the fifth game in a row Calgary has given up the first goal.
Eberle was the playmaker on the second goal. With the puck along the end boards, he drew Dennis Wideman towards him then sent the puck to Pouliot, who was left uncovered in front and he quickly fired a high shot over Hiller for his 11th goal.
Going back to New Year’s Eve, Eberle has 11 points– including seven goals in his last 13 games.
Pouliot has been hot also with eight goals in his last dozen games since returning from a broken foot, which sidelined him for 18 games.
Notes: The Flames had gone 105:28 without a goal until Byron scored… The Oilers last three-game road winning streak was Mar. 23 to Apr. 1, 2012… Jiri Hudler (ill), tied for the Flames lead in point, did not play. In his spot, 25-year-old David Wolf made his NHL debut. However, Wolf (lower body) left the game in the third period and didn’t return… Aulie played for the first time since taking a match penalty on New Year’s Eve for a hit on Flames C Matt Stajan. Suspended two games for the incident, he’s been a healthy scratch since but drew in Saturday for injured D Nikita Nikitin (shoulder).
