CALGARY, Alberta -- Sean Monahan had a career night Wednesday when the Calgary Flames needed a bit of a boost after some bad off-ice news earlier in the day.

The third-year center had a goal and three assists and the Flames dumped the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1.

Calgary lost defenseman Dennis Wideman to a 20-game suspension earlier in the day for his Jan. 27 hit on a linesman that the NHL deemed intentional.

"We have to rally behind (Dennis) and find a way to get the job done," said Monahan. "We need these wins. We need these points. That's the main thing on our minds right now. That's what we're focused on and we're trying to get as many wins as we can."

Left winger Johnny Gaudreau and defensemen Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton also scored for Calgary, and each added an assist.

Monahan had the first assist on all three goals for the first four-point night of his three-year career. His goal was into an open net off a nice feed from Gaudreau at 2:47 of the third period.

Center Elias Lindholm had the lone goal for Carolina.

Monahan had not had a point in his past five games and it was Gaudreau's first goal in four games, but head coach Bob Hartley said he will always stick with his young stars when they struggle.

"We're asking a lot from those young kids," he said. "Two years ago when they came out (of junior and college) we said we'd go through a rebuild and we didn't change our mindset.

"It's so important to keep playing those kids and giving them responsibility. As long as I see the commitment and hard work, we're going to live with their mistakes."

The Flames (22-24-3) stopped their losing skid at three games. The Hurricanes (23-21-8) saw their two-game winning streak end.

Calgary has dominated the Hurricanes at the Saddledome the past 13 years. Carolina is winless in its past seven visits -- 0-6-1 -- and hasn't won in Calgary since Dec. 12, 2002.

Carolina surrendered two goals to the league's worst power-play team while going 0-for-5 against the 29th-ranked penalty killing unit.

"I just think our execution and some of the decision-making that we had on our power play wasn't good," said center Eric Staal, the Carolina captain. "You want it to lead to momentum if you can. Obviously you want to score but if you don't, you want it to lead to momentum. We had a couple of power plays where we did the opposite and they ran with it."

The Hurricanes went with Eddie Lack in goal despite welcoming No. 1 Cam Ward back on Tuesday from the injured list, where he had been since Jan. 20 because of a concussion. Lack was 4-1-0 with a 1.59 goals-against average against Calgary previously but his luck didn't continue Wednesday, when he stopped just 20 of 24 shots.

Giordano and Gaudreau scored within a minute of each other midway through the second period to give Calgary a 3-1 lead.

"It's always tough coming back from two, but going into the third I still thought we had a chance, but they got the early one and it was over," Lack said.

Karri Ramo made 29 saves in Calgary's goal.

NOTES: Flames LW Mason Raymond cleared waivers and was assigned to Stockton of the American Hockey League. Raymond had four goals and one assist in 29 NHL games this season. ... Calgary LW Micheal Ferland came off injured reserve after missing three games with an upper-body injury. ... With the 20-game suspension of D Dennis Wideman for his Jan. 27 hit on linesman Don Henderson, Calgary summoned D Jakub Nakladal from Stockton. Nakladal, LW Brandon Bollig and C Markus Granlund were Calgary's healthy scratches. ... Carolina's injured D Brett Pesce (lower body) and D James Wisniewski (knee) did not play. The Hurricanes' healthy scratches were C Nathan Gerbe, C Brad Malone and D Michal Jordan. ... Barring an injury or illness, Hurricanes C Eric Staal will play his 900th NHL contest in the final game of this three-game road trip Sunday in Montreal. ... Carolina C Victor Rask, who had 29 points in 49 games entering the evening, returned to the site of his junior days on Wednesday. He played for the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League from 2011 to 2013.