In Calgary, Milan Lucic and Michael Stone scored in the third period to rally the Flames from a 4-3 deficit entering the frame to a 5-4 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday evening. 
“You want to contribute, and you want to help out any way that you can,” Lucic said. “You want to score big goals in big moments. I was able to do that to get it to 4-4, and big face-off win, and ‘Stoney’ back in the lineup lets his signature [shot] go and we get the win. All in all, good job today by everyone finishing off their chances.”
Stone scored the winner with two and half minutes left on the game clock.
The win helped Calgary keep pace with the Winnipeg Jets, who defeated the New Jersey Devils, 6-1 on Sunday.
“I think just because of the situation we’re in, every game is a do-or-die or feels like a Game 7,” Lucic said. “Everyone knows right now there’s no time for frustration or negative energy. It’s just going out there and playing the way that we can. Winnipeg won, so we needed to do our part. Five games left. We’re probably going to have to win all of them. You’ve just got to take it one game at a time, and tonight we get a big win to stay in it.”
The Flames improved to 36-26-15 off their fourth straight win.
Jacob Markstrom got the start for Calgary, yielding two goals and making seven saves before getting the hook in the first intermission.
Dan Vladar made 11 saves in relief, he surrendered two goals.
“We’ve played good hockey and we’ve played not-so-good hockey,” Stone said. “That stretches from shift to shift and game to game. I think you can say the same about tonight. We had periods of the game where we were not very good, and we had periods where we controlled a lot of the play. Tonight, we managed to get one more than the other guys.”
The Ducks dropped to 23-44-10 off their eighth straight loss.
“At the end of the day, it’s about our group,” said Anaheim forward Sam Carrick, who had two assists. “When you spend every day together with a group like that, you develop some bonds. We want to play for each other. Everyone loves each other. We’ll be battling right to the end.”
The Ducks took a 2-0 lead in the first period on Frank Vatrano’s first of two on the night for a 1-0 lead, and a goal from Max Comtrois.
“Obviously, things didn’t go as planned at the start of the game,” said Calgary forward Tyler Toffoli. “We definitely didn’t play very well in the first two periods, but sticking together as a group and finding a way to win is all that matters this time of the year.”
Calgary got one back with just 33 seconds of fresh ice used in the middle frame on a power play goal from Andrew Mangiapane for a 2-1 deficit.
Calgary knotted it at 2-2 on a strike by Nikita Zadorov at 7:12 of the second.
Nick Ritchie scored 62 seconds later to give the Flames a 3-2 lead.
The Ducks replied with a goal from Vatrano to tie, 3-3, and a marker from Scott Harrington at 12:52 to reclaim the lead at 4-3 coming out of the middle frame.
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Lucas Dostal made 36 saves.
“I thought it was a really great effort by the group,” Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins said. “Back-to-back games for us and just an absolutely desperate team over there fighting for a playoff spot. Heartbreaker.”
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