NEWARK, N.J. — At a time when nothing but the win matters, there was a delicious sidebar to the Flames’ most dramatic comeback since opening night.
“We like Marky,” said Jonathan Huberdeau, flashing a Devilish grin following a monumental 5-3 comeback win over New Jersey on Thursday.
“But it was nice to score against him.”
In a must-win game at Prudential Center that saw the Flames trail 3-1 after two periods, no one had a better view of Calgary's four responses than their starting netminder one year earlier, Jacob Markstrom.
For the second time this year, the man who essentially forced a trade to the Devils following a frustrating season of departures in Calgary fell short against his former teammates.
Connor Zary’s first goal in two weeks kickstarted the unlikely comeback seven minutes into the third, followed by a Daniil Miromanov blast that tied it with four minutes left and set up Huberdeau’s game-winner in the final three minutes.
Before the Flames tied it, Markstrom watched his replacement, Dustin Wolf, stop Dawson Mercer on a shorthanded breakaway that could have stymied the storybook turnabout.
“The breakaway was great, he even finished with the splits,” beamed Huberdeau, whose 26th of the season was his sixth game-winner of the year.
“I don’t know if he had to, but he showed it off. It was the right save at the right moment. It’s huge. After that we just kept pushing.”
On a low-scoring team carving out quite a reputation for its resilience and timely goals, Huberdeau said he felt in the second intermission the goals would come. Pressure from Nazem Kadri’s line to open the period set the tone for a relentless forecheck that wore the Devils down, as the Flames outshot the hosts 14-4.
“The message in here was we have to find a way,” said Wolf, who made 14 of his 26 stops in the second period.
“These points are critical and we’re kind of in do-or-die range right now, so heck of an effort from the boys in the third period. And I had a real nice seat for it.”
For those keeping score at home, Wolf is now 23-14-5 with a 2.63 GAA and .911 save percentage.
Markstrom, who recently returned from injury, is 22-14-5, with a 2.49 GAA and .901 save percentage.
Moving out the veteran for Kevin Bahl and a first-round pick to make way for the Calder Trophy front-runner has proven to be one of Craig Conroy's best moves to date.
“I saw an opportunity to go far-side there, I wanted to put it a little lower,” said Miromanov of his nifty roof job, which came four months after his last goal.
“Marky was here when I got traded. It’s always nice when you have a goalie on your team and he goes to another team and then you kind of know the holes to put it in.
“I’m just glad we won. Just trying to do my job and help the boys win. It feels great when you’re part of the comeback.”
The win marked the second straight comeback victory for the Flames, following a 6-2 drubbing in Toronto.
The belief just won’t stop for a team that has scored more than three goals in a game just twice in its last 18.
Yet, there they sit, just two back of the Blues for the west’s final wild card berth, as St. Louis beat Vancouver in overtime. The Canucks sit one point ahead of the Flames, but the Flames have a game in hand on them, and two on the Blues with 14 games left.
“It’s huge,” said Zary of the team’s second-straight dramatic win.
“We’re in a position where we can only worry about ourselves and control our destiny with what we do on the ice and let the rest kind of fall into place.”
The Flames conclude their four-game road trip on Long Island on Saturday afternoon, where hometown boy Matt Coronato has a chance to complete the New York area hat trick. Making his first trip through his old stomping grounds, the 22-year-old scored the game-winner at Madison Square Garden, and another power play goal in Jersey to narrow the Devils’ lead to 2-1.
These Flames aren’t for the faint of heart, but they just won’t quit no matter how much higher the stakes continue to be raised.
“Tough places to play and all teams are in that playoff mix … I think they’re just realizing the sense of urgency now,” said Ryan Huska of his troops.
“We talked (during the second intermission) about one or two points and I think the players took over from there. I did sense they had a belief that they were going to find a way to win this one tonight.”
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