Trailing 2-0 early in the second period, the Calgary Flames rallied for three unanswered goals for a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders in Brooklyn Sunday.
Matthew Tkachuk struck twice in the third period including the game-winner with just over one minute left in regulation.
The game-winner was off a deflection of a Travis Hamonic shot down low in front of the Isles’ crease.
“It’d be better if I scored it, I guess,” Hamonic said. “Take everything else out of what was happening, it was a hockey game. We’re basically in the same spot as they are in the standings. It’s a tight race.”
Mark Jankowski started the rally in the middle frame with a goal.
“It was definitely nice to get the win when we were trailing going into the third,” Tkachuk said. “We got a couple of great plays with some guys to get the puck towards the net and just to be around the net.”
The Flames improved to 29-19-8 with the win and now sit in the third spot in the Pacific Division.
Mike Smith made 23 saves in picking up the win but left the game with one second left on the clock with an apparent lower body injury.
“It’s tough. You never want to see it,” Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “We’ll deal with it when we know exactly what we’re dealing with. It would be a huge blow for our team. Arguably our MVP, right? It’d be a big blow for us, but he’s a guy that takes such good care of himself that we’re hoping this will be minor. But if it isn’t, we’ve got other guys that can come in and we just have to carry on, like lots of other teams have had to do this year.”
Casey Cizikas and Anthony Beauvillier gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead but it was not enough to keep the Flames on their heels.
“We were just on our heels. They pushed harder than we did,” the Islanders’ John Tavares said. “They just executed better and forced us to have to defend and just kind of have to survive some shifts. We obviously let them get some chances and get the victory.”
[WATCH:Â All Flames vs. Islanders highlights]
Jaroslav Halak. made 39 saves in the loss as the Isles dropped to 27-24-6.
“We played well for 40 minutes and then got away from what made us successful. We let them take the play to us, plain and simple. We didn’t get pucks in deep. We’re working hard, but we’re not working smart,” Cizikas said after the loss.
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