*Photo from the San Diego Union Tribune*
For this team's sake, hopefully it's a streak starter. Jonathan Huberdeau had two assists, Tyler Toffoli scored the winning goal, and the Calgary Flames defeated the Dallas Stars with a 5-4 victory on Monday night in Dallas.
Entering this showdown with an 0-3-2 record in their last 5 games, the Flames finally got in the win column while chasing a wild card spot. Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, and Nazem Kadri each had two assists in the win, while 5 different players scored goals.
Calgary forward Elias Lindholm said of the win postgame that "We always have to make it a tight game towards the end. It was nice to find a way and get some bounces towards the end. There hasn't been a lot of them this year. Nice to get the two points at the end."
New acquisition Nick Ritchie got the Flames on the board, scoring the only goal of the first period with Huberdeau and Weegar assisting. Nikita Zadorov scored 4:51 into the second period, doubling the Flames lead to 2-0. The Stars rallied to tie the game on goals from Jason Robertson and Max Domi. Lindholm scored later in the period to make it 3-2 Flames after two periods.
Rasmus Andersson scored for the Flames 4:24 into the 3rd period, padding the lead to 4-2. Roope Hintz netted his 30th goal of the season with the Stars shorthanded, cutting the deficit to 4-3. Jamie Benn then scored to even the score 4-4. With 6.2 seconds left on the clock, Toffoli scored the game winner to lift the Flames to two points.
Huberdeau said of the good finish that "It was good to get that goal at the end, it's good for confidence. I think we deserved to win that game in regulation. Obviously, they came back but we found a way. I feel that we didn't get many breaks this year so it's good to get that at the end of the game."
It was Jacob Markstrom who started for the Flames, getting the win in dramatic fashion thanks to Toffoli. Markstrom turned aside 29 of the 33 shots the Stars had, good for a .879 save percentage. His record now stands at 16-17-8 in 43 games.
Getting the start for the Stars was Jake Oettinger, who took the loss to drop to a 26-9-10 record on the season. Oettinger stopped 32 out of the 37 shots on goal the Flames sent at him, recording a .865 save percentage.
Dallas head coach Pete Deboer said of the loss that "They're all learning lessons, I think, for our group. At the end of the day, I think you get what you deserve in this league most nights I find. I'm not sure we deserved to win tonight based on what we put out there for 60 minutes."
The Flames resume play on Tuesday night, facing the Minnesota Wild in the second half of a back to back, with Dan Vladar starting in net. Oettinger is expected to start for the Stars on Thursday against the Buffalo Sabres.
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