Flames Win The Hard Way With 6-5 Decision in Dallas

Leave it to the Calgary Flames to take it from comfortable to chaos in a span of about 13 minutes.

They put arguably their most impressive 40 minutes of the year together. Well, maybe 39:14 to be more precise. They scored a half-dozen goals, had limited the Dallas Stars to just one, and looked ready to roll on to Nashville with two points locked up.

Then chaos entered the chat.

With just 46 seconds left in the second period, the Stars planted a small seed of doubt with their second goal. Three more followed in the third period. Just like that, the 6-1 lead that’s as comfortable as any can be in the NHL morphed into a chaotic course in desperation defence as the Flames held on for dear life for a 6-5 win over the Stars in Dallas. 

The good news is they succeeded. Score and circumstances aside, they got what they came for.

"Two points. That's what it is in this league. No one's asking about the score is. Just the two points are the thing that matters the most,” Calgary Flames goalie Dan Vladar summarized after stopping 28 of 33 shots for his second straight win in the road trip. “It's better to win 6-5 than lose 1-0."

He’s not wrong. But, wow, what an adventurous way to get there.

Andrew Mangiapane (just 25 seconds in) and Trevor Lewis scored in the first period. As did Stars veteran Jamie Benn. Elias Lindholm, Nazem Kadri, Rasmus Andersson and Chris Taney padded the lead in the second period before Tyler Seguin’s late momentum-shifting score.

Despite preventing the Stars from a shot in the first seven minutes of the final frame, their first one went in. Joe Pavelski scored twice and Colin Miller really got the Calgary Flames fan base sweating with nearly five minutes left to play.

"Crazy third, obviously, said Tanev, whose goal was his first of the season. “Most importantly, got the two points. But obviously let them control the last 12 minutes pretty good, so we've got to do a better job. A 6-1 lead, it should be pretty easy to close the game out.”

It wasn’t.

Rarely has this year’s Calgary Flames done anything the easy way. They lead the league in one-goal finishes and have also given up the lead in games more than any other NHL squad. 

But with a 2-0-2 record on this five-game trip so far, it’s hard to complain too much. Jonathan Huberdeau had a pair of assists. Kadri had two points, and so did Tanev, Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar. The team has earned points in 14 of their last 17 games. That's not bad. Neither was the fact they occupied the top wildcard spot in the Western Conference. 

"I think we've been playing well,” Huberdeau said. “Obviously we let (off the gas) in the third period. We’ve got to take that as a learning curve. 

"We got the two points we wanted and I think we've been putting up a lot of points lately, so we've got to keep doing what we're doing.”