Carolina ties the game late, but falls to Calgary 3-2 in OT

For Dougie Hamilton and Micheal Ferland, their return to Calgary did not end how they wanted it to. The Calgary Flames defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime despite the Canes out-shooting them 35-25.

Calgary got the first goal of the game early in the first on a controversial play. Oliver Kylington beat out Brock McGinn and forced a turnover in the Hurricanes zone, Kylington then drove the net and scored on a backhand shot at the 1:58 mark. The goal was challenged by Carolina for goaltender interference after Petr Mrazek was visibly upset that the goal was allowed. Upon replay it was clear that former Hurricanes player Derek Ryan swiped Mrazek’s stick in the goal crease multiple times yet the referees upheld the call on the ice of a good goal.

The Canes would put a few quality shots on goal during the first ten minutes of the period but the Flames goaltender David Rittich would hold his ground.

Calgary created a fair amount of pressure throughout the period and Petr Mrazek made multiple strong saves. His best save was on a tic-tac-toe play that saw Mrazek stop Mark Giordano who was left completely alone in front of the net.

Shortly after the Mrazek save Dougie Hamilton would get the Hurricanes on the board. Hamilton threw a puck on net that redirected off TJ Brodie and past Rittich at 15:48 of the first period. The goal was originally credited to Andrei Svechnikov who was in the vicinity, but it was later corrected and awarded to Hamilton.

The second period would start slow until Lucas Wallmark took a high sticking minor just over five minutes in. The Flames’ power play would be an abbreviated one as Sean Monahan took a penalty for closing his hand on the puck just 36 seconds later.

During the 4 on 4, Mark Jankowski found the back of the net off a rebound in front of Mrazek to put the Flames ahead 2-1 at 6:40 of the second period. Jankowski was the recipient of a lucky bounce off Calvin de Haan and was at the right place at the right time.

Calgary would get another opportunity on the power play as Greg McKegg took an offensive zone hooking penalty near the ten-minute mark. Carolina’s kill gave a strong effort and the Hurricanes escaped the penalty unscathed.

The Hurricanes would go down to just 11 forwards as Micheal Ferland left the bench late in the second period and would not return. This would lead to Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen playing together after not playing on the same line the past few games.

The second period would end with the Flames ahead 2-1 on the scoreboard but Carolina was out-shooting Calgary 26-11.

Calgary would get their third power play of the game less than four minutes in to the third period after Dougie Hamilton got the gate for tripping. Mrazek made a very good left to right save shorthanded which helped the Canes kill off the penalty.

Carolina would get a power play at 9:19 of the third period. The Canes were unable to get anything set up and that led to Teuvo Teravainen taking a tripping penalty in transition.

The two teams would play just over a minute of 4 on 4 for the second time in the game. Neither team would score and the Flames would get an abbreviated man advantage. At the end of that Flames power play Petr Mrazek made a series of outstanding saves while laying on the ice to keep the game at 2-1.

Calgary brought a lot of pressure late leading to the Hurricanes being unable to lift Petr Mrazek until 1:20 left in the third. This would not matter as the Canes were able to tie the game late with the extra attacker. Sebastian Aho redirected a pass from Teuvo Teravainen at 19:16 to tie the game and to overtime they would go.

The first overtime game for the Canes in their past 18 contests would end in just 15 seconds. Calgary got the puck and immediately drove to the offensive zone. Mikael Backlund skated past Jaccob Slavin and pocketed the puck past Mrazek to win the game by the score of 3-2.

Carolina must now travel to Vancouver overnight for their final match-up before the All-Star Game and the bye week. The game against the Canucks could very well feature Alex Nedeljikovic getting his first ever NHL start after Mrazek had a tough 25 save performance tonight.