Photo Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
The Calgary Flames made a surprising comeback win in Dallas against the Stars last night. After being down, 3-1 at the start of the third period, Calgary came back to score two goals and force overtime. OT solved nothing and the teams were off to the shootout.
No, Brian McGrattan was not first in line for the shootout, but I’m almost certain that Hartley had considered it after their last interviews with Flames TV (in case you missed it in an earlier post, here is the McGrattan interview and here is the Hartley interview). After earning his first NHL goal in the last game, Corban Knight scored the winning shootout goal agains the Stars and lead the Flames to win with a final score of 4-3.
Tonight, the Flames take on the Phoenix Coyotes at the Jobing.com arena in hopes of another win. Phoenix is in 18th position in the standings with 73 points, and the Flames are trailing in 26th place with 61 points. Recently, Phoenix has won 4 of their last 7 games. Two of the more recent games were against some of the top contenders in the league, which they lost by only one goal each. Their game against Tampa Bay ended in a shootout loss, and they lost by only one goal against the Big Bad Bruins. This is proof that the Coyotes have earned their uncharacteristically higher place in the standings.
But, with the offensive push by the Flames at the end of their recent games, the Coyotes won’t be safe even with a two or three goal lead. And with the offensive players on point with their defensive-offense, Phoenix will have to work hard to get past the Flames blue line and accumulate some shots on net.
Puck drops at 8pm MST on CBC’s Hockey Night In Canada, after the Senators/Canadiens game.
Go Flames Go!