CALGARY - Micheal Ferland was a huge factor in Calgary's playoff series win over Vancouver last April. On Friday night he picked up right where he left off.

Ferland led the way with a goal and an assist as the Flames beat the Canucks 4-1 in pre-season action.

Last year, it was Ferland's physical play that made him so dominant. The rugged six-foot-one winger had 40 hits in the six-game series.

On this night he demonstrated his offensive skills, starting with his go-ahead goal at 18:03 of the first period.

Dennis Wideman's centring pass deflected off the stick of Vancouver's Frankie Corrado and straight to Ferland in the slot and he promptly whipped a shot behind Richard Bachman.

"He is a force out there," said Flames coach Bob Hartley. "This kid is so strong and such a great skater and what we're missing with Ferly is he has unbelievable hockey sense. His reads are great, his hands are great. This kid can make plays."

In the second, Ferland replaced Jiri Hudler on the top line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau and took advantage of the opportunity. Ferland neatly set up Monahan on a two-on-one and he scored his first of the pre-season to put the Flames ahead 3-1.

"He can skate, he can hit and he's skilled. He found me there, that was a great play," said Monahan. "He wants to have an impact game in and game out so having him there, he's going to bring something different and he did a good job for us."

Two weeks ago, Ferland — who has only appeared in 26 NHL regular season games — signed to a two-year, one-way deal with an average annual value of US$825,000.

"I'm just happy to be at this level," said the 23-year-old. "I get excited like this for any game. Bob's thrown me in a lot of situations."

Sam Bennett and Michael Frolik also scored for Calgary (2-2).

Jake Virtanen had the lone goal for the Canucks (1-2). The two teams meet again Saturday night in Vancouver.

"It was a good 60 minutes by the guys tonight, but it was unfortunate we didn't come out with the win," said Virtanen. "They have a good power play so just have to keep in mind to stay out of the box for the next game."

It was the first goal for the seventh-overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.

"Each and every game feeling a lot better, a lot more comfortable out there," said Virtanen.

Jonas Hiller made 25 saves for Calgary. Bachman was beaten three times on 19 shots for the Canucks before giving way to Jacob Markstrom, who made 12 saves.

Frolik rounded out the scoring at 16:09 of the second period with a crafty display of skill. The free-agent signing neatly kicked the puck from his skate to his stick and fired the puck past Markstrom in one motion.

The game finished with a trial of 3-on-3 overtime — the first for Calgary and second for Vancouver. The Flames prevailed in that too on a goal from defenceman Kris Russell.

The Flames had a mix-up with their official game sheet and after a couple first period shifts that included getting in a fight with Brandon Prust, forward Blair Riley had to come out of the game and was replaced by Kenny Agostino.

"I screwed up. It's totally my fault," said Hartley. "I always prepare my game sheet in the afternoon and then we decided to make a change and I made the change on my card but I didn't make my change on the NHL sheet."