Second period shots were 11-5 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 12-4 Flames (high-danger chances were 7-1 Flames).

The Flames had a pair of third period power plays, which gave them a pair of opportunities to grab hold of the game. They didn’t generate very much with either man advantage.

A little bit after their second PP of the period expired, the Ducks had the Flames on their heels with their forecheck and the visitors were a bit too casual with the puck in their own end. The Flames turned over the puck, and Trevor Zegras sniped a shot bar-down over Dustin Wolf’s shoulder to tie the game at 1-1.

The Flames battled back, though, and Yegor Sharangovich managed to score. A nice pass gave him a scoring chance right in front of the net, and he managed to drive the net and bury his own rebound to give the Flames a 2-1 edge.

A little later, a pass from Blake Coleman sent Backlund and Matt Coronato into the Ducks zone. Backlund fired the puck on net and Husso booted out a rebound. Coronato beat out the Ducks defenders to the rebound and beat Husso to give the Flames a 3-1 lead.

But the Ducks battled back and scored twice in a nine second span to tie the game up. First, Frank Vatrano buried a one-timer feed from Olen Zellweger past Wolf off a nice rush passing play to make it 3-2.

Just after that, the Ducks entered the Flames zone after the next face-off and Cutter Gauthier fooled Wolf with a deceptive shot release to beat the Flames’ netminder low and tie the game at 3-3.

Third period shots were 15-10 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 8-7 Ducks (high-danger chances were 3-0 Flames).

This game went to overtime. And in overtime, Gauthier got a clear look and he fired the puck past Wolf to give the Ducks a 4-3 victory.

Why the Flames got a point

The Flames were generally pretty good in this game. But let’s pick on a few things: their power play was quite bad – they went 0-for-6 – and they were way too leaky defensively in the third period. The opportunities to grab hold of this game and run away with it presented themselves frequently, but the Flames just couldn’t do it.

Red Warrior

We’ll give it to the Backlund-Coleman-Coronato trio. They were generally very good.

Turning point

Leading 3-1 and with their playoff hopes on the line, the Flames allowed two goals in nine seconds in the third period. That’s unacceptable for a team with playoff aspirations.

This and that

The Sportsnet team returned to action after not broadcasting Monday’s game due to Greg Millen’s passing. Fittingly, the Flames broadcast was worked in Millen’s memory.

Backlund’s goal was his 212th as a Flame, tying him with Sean Monahan for eighth in franchise history.

Morgan Frost left the game twice after awkward collisions. Once briefly in second period after colliding with his own teammate on the power play, then in third period after colliding with Zellweger near the end boards. He didn’t return to the game after the second collision.

Up next

The Flames (37-27-14) are headed home. They’ll host the Minnesota Wild on Friday night at the Saddledome.