Symbolic of just how much things have changed in Calgary this season, no one in the post-game presser was willing to bite on the narrative they deserved a better fate.
Instead, the tone from the coach down revolved around the positives that came from turning a six-game winning streak into an eight-game point streak.
“You know what, it’s still a step for us -- it’s a battle-back point,” said Darryl Sutter following a 3-2 overtime loss to the surging Predators of Nashville. “Thankful we got a point. In the past this team wouldn’t have gotten a point.”
The focus of his uncharacteristic positivity revolved around his club’s ability to fight back from a third period deficit against a stingy Preds squad the Flames outshot 40-22.
The fact that it was Oliver Kylington who tied it up with a rocket three minutes into the third period speaks even more to the changes around town that have the once-forgotten defenceman playing in key moments.
Yet, there he was in the final minute, joining the rush for a 3-on-2 he almost completed with less than 30 seconds remaining.
It was one of many chances the Flames had on a night in which Juuse Saros channelled his inner Jacob Markstrom to keep the Predators in a game Calgary could have put away many times earlier.
“I was never worried that we weren’t going to get that game to overtime,” said Flames first period goal scorer Matthew Tkachuk, whose club trailed 2-1 the entire second period.
“I actually thought the way it was going we were going to win in regulation. But I guess anything can happen in 3-on-3. They got the extra point there but I think we feel pretty good in those situations, at least we did tonight.”
Asked to elaborate on what he felt good about, the answer was obvious following an effort in which the Flames’ pesky forecheck generated a whopping nine high danger scoring chances in the first period alone.
“I thought we were all over them,” said Tkachuk, whose club saw a remarkable four players sent in alone in a three-minute stretch.
“We’ve just got to bear down and bury our chances. We should have been up 4-1 or 4-2 in the first period. (Saros) played good. We missed a lot. Great goalie.”
Great goaltending is something the Flames have ridden throughout a six-game win streak that is sandwiched by a pair of overtime losses at home.
Coming off three goose eggs in his last four games, Markstrom’s shutout streak ended midway through the first period when Luke Kunin’s redirection of a point shot going wide was the first to beat him in 144 minutes.
It also ended a streak that dated back to the second game of the season in which the Flames had not once trailed in a hockey game.
For those keeping track at home, that was more than 21-and-a-half periods without a deficit, establishing a new franchise record shortly before Kunin’s strike.
The question then became, how would the team respond?
The answer: brilliantly.
They did it despite playing short a forward after the seven-minute mark when a Brett Ritchie fight with Mark Borowiecki abruptly ended with the Flames winger buckling after being caught with a punch that dropped him. While remaining conscious, the clearly dazed veteran needed help slowly limping off the ice, ending his evening.
Expect Brad Richardson, declared long-ago healthy by Sutter earlier in the day, to step in Thursday against Dallas.
You can also expect plenty of ongoing speculation revolving around the Flames being one of the few bidders left for Jack Eichel.
Again, pessimists might have pointed to six failed power plays, including two and a bit in the third, as the team’s undoing.
However, the two units moved the puck well, created several good chances and, as Sutter pointed out, he’ll gladly take one a game, like the one Tkachuk buried.
Kylington’s even-strength marker started when he raced in off the bench, collected a pass from Chris Tanev as he streaked in the left side and beat Saros short side with a ping off the post that kickstarted a Saddledome celebration.
“I thought it was a big goal for us there but obviously it stings a little bit because we didn’t get the win,” said Kylington, who punctuated his first of the year with an animated fist pump.
“We showed good resilience and we got back into the game and we created a lot of chances and maybe should have scored on some of them. But he’s a good goalie too.”
One might have expected the post-game focus to revolve around the trip that freed the puck from Mikael Backlund and set Matt Duchene’s game winner in motion. (Did he step on a stick or the puck?)
However, despite the animated discussion Backlund punctuated the evening with as he escorted officials off the ice to a chorus of boos, the evening’s lost opportunity was somehow seen as a found one.
Quite the shift in Cowtown where people are still coming to grips with calling their 6-1-2 team the first place Flames.
