In Vancouver, the Flames’ Jonathan Huberdeau hit for a power play goal with less than four minutes left in the third period to tie the game with the Canucks on Friday night. That was enough to get the game to extra time.
In the extra session, Tyler Toffoli scored his second of the match at 3:27 to send Calgary to a 5-4 win.
The Flames kept pace in the Western Conference wild card race, the Winnipeg Jets dispatched the Detroit Red Wings, 6-2 on Friday.
“It’s about time we came back and won a game,” Toffoli said. “We needed it.”
Jacob Markstrom made 16 saves in the win.
The Flames improved to 35-26-15
The Canucks grabbed a 2-0 lead on strikes by Conor Garland in the first stanza, and Elias Pettersson 33 seconds into the middle frame, Pettersson hit off the power play.
“Very frustrating,” Pettersson said. “They were maybe a better team overall. They had more shots, more looks, but we defended with everything we could.”
Vancouver dropped to 34-34-7, and have an active five-game point streak.
“I don’t know if it’s a structure thing; we’ve got to win a little more battles,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “Some guys have to get a little more gritty in situations. … We’re not there yet and we’ve got to get to that level. And that’s getting stronger, anticipating a little bit, and meeting pressure with pressure. We’ll get there but, hey, listen, another point against a desperate team.”
Toffoli hit for his first of the night at 2:55 of the second to trim the lead to 2-1, and Blake Coleman knotted it at 2-2 with nine minutes gone in the period.
“It was important,” Huberdeau said. “We had a lot of shots on net (41), the goalie was playing well, and it was good to finally come back after two periods. It’s good to have one. At this time of the year, it’s really important.”
Just over three minutes later, Aidan McDonough put the Canucks back in front, 3-2.
It was his first career NHL goal.
“You dream about scoring that on the driveway or in the backyard your whole life,” said McDonough. “It was pretty special.”
Calgary had a chance to tie the game on a penalty shot by Huberdeau, but he was stopped. Troy Stecher tied it, 3-3, at 15:52.
“You can look at the standings, where we are and the fight that we’re in, so a big two points for us obviously and got to keep this going,” Stecher said. “It speaks volumes to the character we have in this room. It seemed anytime we scored we took a step backwards. It’s not something you want to do, but at the end of the day we find a way to get two points and stay in the hunt.”
The tie lasted all of 14 seconds when Anthony Beauvillier reclaimed the lead for the Canucks at 4-3.


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