Flames use big first period to get past Jets 4-1

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) A few fortunate bounces led to a big win for the Calgary Flames.

Michael Frolik had a goal and two assists and the Flames scored three times in the first period before cruising to a 4-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday night.

Joe Colborne had a goal and an assist and Mikael Backlund, the third member of that line, added two assists as the Flames won consecutive games on home ice for the first time since December. Sean Monahan and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary.

Drew Stafford scored for Winnipeg, which had won two straight and has yet to string together three wins in a row this season.

The Flames took a 1-0 lead at 5:38 when Colborne curled out front and had his bouncing pass intended for Backlund carom in off Ondrej Pavelec's goal stick, which was lying on the ice by the side of the net.

''They were lucky, but you make your own luck,'' Flames coach Bob Hartley said. ''Look at the first goal. Off the goalie stick on the ice, but we're around the blue paint, we're active, we're at the net and that's what we've been preaching since Day 1. It's nice that our guys get rewarded for those efforts.''

The same trio struck again at 12:48, again benefiting from some good fortune.

Backlund fanned on a slap shot, but the wayward direction the puck traveled was right to Frolik at the side of the net, and he steered it in the open side. As Backlund and Frolik came together to celebrate the goal, Frolik's 15th and fourth in his last two games, they had a chuckle about how the play turned out.

''A missed shot and I just went to the net and luckily it went right to my stick,'' Frolik said. ''It was a lucky bounce, but that's how it goes in hockey. Sometimes you try and work so hard and things go the other way. But when you're feeling a little more confident, the puck ends up finding you.''

Calgary made it 3-0 at 18:20 when Johnny Gaudreau threaded a pass through the slot to Giordano, who neatly set up Monahan in the slot.

The Jets got on the scoreboard at 10:23 of the second, taking advantage of a mistake by Joni Ortio. The Flames goalie lost the puck to Blake Wheeler behind the Flames net and, before he could scramble back into position, Stafford one-timed in his 19th goal.

''We had some opportunities, we had some chances, but it's one of those games where it starts in the first period,'' Stafford said. ''We come out flat and we have that hole and we just can't get out of it.''

Ortio finished with 28 stops in his sixth straight start, while Pavelec had 17 saves in defeat.

Jets coach Paul Maurice was not happy with his team's start.

''It's a couple bonehead plays coming back into our end that end up in the net,'' he said. ''You're not going to win too many hockey games when you throw 20 minutes like that at anybody.''

The Flames lost Dennis Wideman (upper body) in the first period when he went down heavily after colliding with Colborne behind the Jets' net, seconds before Frolik's goal. It was his third game after returning from a suspension.

Hartley said the team will know more in the next day or two, but based on preliminary indications from the medical staff, ''It doesn't look very good.''

NOTES: Freddie Hamilton made his Flames debut after getting called up from Stockton (AHL) earlier in the day. It was his 30th NHL game, but the first time he has suited up in the NHL with his younger brother Dougie. ... The last time Calgary had brothers in the same lineup were Robyn and Richie Regehr in December 2006.