In Calgary, the visiting Anaheim Ducks rallied back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game, 2-2, in the third period.
But with 16 seconds left in regulation, Dougie Hamilton struck for a goal to send the Flames to a 3-2 win and hand the Ducks a devastating loss.
“It’s big,” Hamilton said. “I think every game lately has been a four-point game. Two points every game is what we’re trying to get and we need that to try to get into the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs. It’s big.”
Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Getzlaf rallied the Ducks for the tie.
“It’s really hard,” Getzlaf said. “With the amount of work we had to do to get ourselves back in the game, to let it slip with 16 seconds left, it’s heartbreaking at the moment. We’re going to go into this break much like we did last year and hopefully we can use it.”
Mike Smith made 27 saves as the Flames imp4roved to 21-16-4.
“I think we’re just learning to win, learning to deal with the emotional roller-coaster ride throughout the course of a game. You just can’t get too high and can’t get too low,” Smith said after the game.”You’ve got to be even keel shift to shift. We got a little out of sorts there in the third period and we found a way to regroup.”
Micheal Ferland and Mark Giordano scored 44 seconds apart in the first period to give Calgary a 2-0 lead and put the Ducks on their heels.
“We couldn’t have gotten in the room fast enough after that one,” Getzlaf said. “That was one of the worst periods of hockey that we played.”
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Flames highlights]
John Gibson made 28 saves but needed just one more to get to overtime.
The Ducks rally in the third was remarkable given the first period effort and lack of push back in the middle frame.
“We’ve got to make sure that we come prepared to play in the first. I think our first 20 (minutes) was not good enough, and then obviously after that in the third period, we started playing with the puck, we started moving our feet,” Silfverberg said after the game, “It’s not just the guy with the puck. It takes all five. Everyone’s got to want the puck and help each other out.”
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