Calgary Flames Throwback Thursday: The Almost Comeback

Welcome to another edition of Calgary Flames Throwback Thursday! Today, let’s talk about what was an almost iconic comeback in 2015.

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Calgary Flames Throwback Thursday! The segment that we here at Flame for Thought bring you every Thursday about some sort of Flames memory. This can be 25 years ago, or it could just be last season. We basically pick what we want because we’re selfish like that.

Last week, we talked about when the Flames won the cup 28 years ago. That worked out perfectly since that Thursday was exactly the 28 year anniversary of the Flames winning the cup on May 25th, 1989.

Today? Let’s talk about what was an almost iconic comeback. You may be wondering what the heck I’m talking about. I’ll get into that. If you’ve been following the Flames, or even just the NHL, for the last few years, then you may know about the Flames 2014-2015 season. They were known as the comeback kids because they’d always be down one or two goals (especially heading into the third period) and they’d manage to comeback and win.

That season, the Flames had the most amount of wins when trailing after one period (13) and the third most amount of wins when trailing after two periods (10). They also had the second most amount of wins in the league when the opponent scores first with 20 wins. Actually, funnily enough, they were 20th in the league with wins when they score first. So Flames fans actually didn’t mind them trailing because they always found a way to comeback from it.

Just for fun, they were also tied in first for most amount of overtime wins with nine and had the second best overtime record going 9-4. That was the year the NHL switched to the 3-on-3 overtime format and with Johnny Gaudreau playing in his rookie year, he had a lot of ice to work with and it was always fun watching him and the team in overtime because they were dangerous. Now, let’s move on to this almost comeback I keep mentioning.

The Almost Comeback

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Like I said, the Calgary Flames were known as being the comeback kids. But sometimes, they didn’t always have the best of games. And sometimes, they’d be down 4-0 with only 13 minutes left in the third period. A little hard to comeback from that, you’d think, hey?

Well, the Flames never gave up and up until that last second when the buzzer went off, they had hope they can comeback. Even if that meant being down 4-0 with only 13 minutes left of the game.

You may still be wondering, “What the heck is this girl talking about?” Sorry, let me specify. On March 8th, 2015, the Flames were down 4-0 in the third period against the Ottawa Senators. But again, the Flames were the comeback kids, so they didn’t quite lose hope, yet.

With 13:04 left in the game, Joe Colborne scores making the game 4-1. They may be down three goals, but the entire team still looked to be into it. Then less than three minutes later, Kris Russell makes it 4-2 on the powerplay.

They’re still not done yet.

About a minute later, Mikael Backlund makes it just a one goal game. Now giving the Flames three goals in six minutes with still 7:30 left in the game. Plenty of time, right? And even so, the Flames still have a last chance to even things up by taking out the goaltender and getting an extra skater out on the ice. But they won’t need that.

With a little over two minutes left, Johnny Gaudreau feeds a nice pass to Kris Russell for Russell’s second goal of the game to tie things up at four a piece.

Man, I’d hate to be a Senators fan in that moment, hey?

Unfortunately, this story doesn’t quite have the happy ending we’d all hope with the Calgary Flames scoring four goals in 11 minutes. This game would go to overtime, but that didn’t solve anything. So let’s take it to a shootout.

Like I said, this story doesn’t quite have that happy ending. The Flames unfortunately fell just a little too short and lost in the sixth round of the shootout. But I don’t think any Flames fans was upset about that loss. Even the team. At least they got a point out of that, hey?

Where I was

I actually remember watching this game with my dad and uncle since he was at our place. It was the third period and we were all somewhat disinterested in the game since the Flames were losing 4-0. We were in the kitchen not quite paying attention, but the TV was still on (of course). The Flames scored with 13 minutes left and I said, “Wow great job guys, you couldn’t have started this a little sooner?”

We were still quite disinterested.

But then a few minutes later, they scored another. Now there’s about 8:30 left in the game and the comeback kids are down by two goals. But we were still saying, “Alright, that’s good, they may be able to comeback from this, but it’s unlikely.”

We still weren’t paying too much attention to the game.

Then they scored that third goal and it was a one goal game with still plenty of time left. Now we were on edge with our eyes glued to the TV. When the Flames actually managed to tie up the game, none of us could quite believe what we just saw. We knew the Calgary Flames were the comeback kids but we didn’t think they were THIS able to comeback. It was a fun game and we were happy with the end results.

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And hey, that one point could have come in handy seeing how they just made it into the playoffs that season by two points over the former champs, the Los Angeles Kings.