Stars Lose To Flames
CALGARY, Alberta — Although his team faced a 3-0 deficit heading into the third period, defenseman Dougie Hamilton still believed the Calgary Flames could rally to beat the Dallas Stars.
Hamilton’s hunch proved to be right as the Flames waged a furious comeback to force overtime before winning 4-3 in a shootout thanks to a game-deciding goal by left winger Johnny Gaudreau.
“The first couple shifts, it was one of those games where you think it’s going to be a long one,” said Hamilton, who scored the game-tying goal at 17:42 of the third. “Our team, we don’t quit. We’re a proud group, so it’s nice to get rewarded for that. When we have the puck we’re a good team. It’s just about finding ways to get the puck. We’ve got a lot of guys that can make plays.”
Center Joe Colborne, Gaudreau and center Sean Monahan all scored on Stars goaltender Antti Niemi in the shootout, while left winger Patrick Sharp was the lone Dallas player to score on Flames goalie Karri Ramo.
“We played well three-on-three, couldn’t find a goal, but we found the win in the shootout,” said Gaudreau. “It was a great team effort tonight. It was another one of those comebacks like last season where guys were showing a ton of effort until the final buzzer there. We’re just excited to get the win.”
Center Mikael Backlund swatted his own rebound past Niemi at 1:51 of the final frame, and Gaudreau
scored his sixth goal of the season 70 seconds later to pull the Flames within a goal.
Hamilton then tied the game when he fired a shot from the high slot over Niemi’s outstretched glove hand and into the top corner.
“I found a little pocket and I’m just happy my shot didn’t get blocked by that guy and went in,” said Hamilton. “We had a lot of chances there in the third and it was nice to tie it up.”
Monahan finished the game with two assists for the Flames (9-14-2), who won their fifth consecutive home game.
Ramo finished with 26 saves to improve his record to 7-8-1.
Centers Jason Spezza, Cody Eakin and Mattias Janmark scored for the Stars (19-5-1), while Niemi made 29 saves.
The Flames were able to keep Dallas left winger Jamie Benn and center Tyler Seguin off the scoresheet. Both Benn and Seguin saw their point-scoring streaks end at eight games.
“We just stopped playing hockey,” said Benn. “We knew they were a desperate hockey team over there. We knew they’ve got some firepower and it’s just a pretty embarrassing loss.”
Dallas kept pouring on the pressure and was rewarded when Spezza took a long pass from defenseman Jordie Benn before skating into the Calgary zone and snapping a perfect shot to the short side past Ramo at 1:48 of the opening period.
The Stars extended their lead at 16:28 of the first when Hamilton accidently kicked the puck past Ramo while attempting to check Eakin in front of the Calgary net. Eakin was credited with the goal that put Dallas up 2-0.
Monahan had a good chance early in the second period to get the Flames on the board. On a two-on-one with Gaudreau, Monahan’s return pass to his linemate bounced off Jordie Benn and the post behind Ramo before deflecting wide.
Janmark counted the lone goal of the second period at 11:16 when he finished off an end-to-end rush by speeding past Flames defenseman Ladislav Smid before scoring a wraparound goal.
“In the second period, we scored on one chance and I don’t think we had many others,” said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. “We had some go off posts and they could have easily been back in the game. For me, we didn’t skate well, we didn’t execute well and a couple of our reads on our last couple goals against weren’t very good and if you make those types of mistakes, teams are going to take advantage.”
