Backlund OT hero, Flames win
Mikael Backlund scored in overtime as the Calgary Flames bounced back from giving up a goal with 1.8 seconds left in the third period to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Friday night.
Calgary had two chances earlier to win it in overtime. On a two-on-one, Michael Frolik’s stick broke as he tried to one-time a pass from Backlund in the open side. On a breakaway shortly after, Johnny Gaudreau lost control of the puck after a deke left him with an empty net.
But Backlund wouldn’t waste the third chance, blasting a shot past Petr Mrazek off the wing at 3:56.
Kris Versteeg and Matthew Tkachuk scored for Calgary (35-26-4) in regulation time. The Flames are six points up on Los Angeles and move seven points ahead of St. Louis for the first wild card spot in the West.
Brian Elliott made 35 saves to help the Flames to their sixth win in a row.
Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit (25-26-11). The Red Wings opened the night 10 points out of a playoff spot and sit last in the Eastern Conference.
Elliott’s resurgence continued. After a forgettable start to the season in which he lost his starting job for a while to Chad Johnson, the veteran has been much better lately, giving Calgary the calibre of goaltending they were expecting when they acquired him from the St. Louis Blues last June.
In starting 11 of the last 14 games, Elliott has gone 9-1-1 over that stretch with a .925 save percentage.
Elliott was at his best in the second. the Red Wings entered the period down 2-1 but had a flurry of dangerous chances early on thanks to back-to-back power plays. However, despite outshooting Calgary 14-2 and dominating territorially, they could not get the tying goal.
Detroit finally tied it with a buzzer beater with Mrazek pulled for an extra skater. Seconds after Elliott jabbed out a pad to rob Henrik Zetterberg from the slot, Tatar beat got the pick at the face-off circle and beat him over his shoulder.
The Flames gave up the first goal for the fifth game in a row. They fell behind 1-0 at 6:55 of the first when Helm beat Elliott on his glove side with a 40-foot wrist shot.
Versteeg’s tying goal came less than two minutes later on the Flames’ first man advantage.
Winning the faceoff and picking up an assist was Sean Monahan, who earned his 100th assist and 200th point of his career.
Calgary took the lead at 13:07 on a giveaway by Niklas Kronwall in front of his own net. The veteran defenceman coughed up the puck to Tkachuk who promptly deked Mrazek and slid in his 12th goal.
Mrazek had 28 stops to fall to 15-176.
Elliott’s record on the season improves to 17-13-3.
Notes: Calgary’s scratches included Curtis Lazar, acquired from Ottawa at the trade deadline, and veteran defenceman Dennis Wideman, who sat for the sixth game in a row — all of them Flames victories... Flames have come back to win after giving up the first goal a league-high 17 times... Calgary also improves to a league-best 25-0-1 when leading after two periods.