Toffoli, Flames rally for OT win against Hurricanes
CALGARY — Tyler Toffoli scored with 30 seconds remaining in overtime, and the Calgary Flames rallied for a 3-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.
Toffoli, who also had an assist, scored on a one-timer in the slot off a pass from Rasmus Andersson for his second game-winning goal of the season.
“‘Ras’ did a really good job taking it wide and using his speed, and I was just trying to find a little space, and he made a great play right in the middle,” Toffoli said.
Video: CAR@CGY: Toffoli nets one-timer from the slot in OT
Nazem Kadri scored, Andersson had two assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves for the Flames (4-1-0), who were coming off a 6-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday.
“It was big,” Markstrom said. “You don’t want to lose two in a row and turn into a .500 team. You’ve got to keep winning hockey games, and it’s a big win for us today.”
Sebastian Aho scored, and Antti Raanta made 29 saves for the Hurricanes (3-1-1), who have lost two in a row.
“We’ve got a lot of games left,” Aho said. “We have to focus on the next one and try to win that game. That’s all we’re going to focus on.”
Video: CAR@CGY: Aho nets beautiful backhand opening goal
Aho gave Carolina a 1-0 lead 1:44 into the first period, skating around Calgary defenseman Noah Hanifin and tucking a backhand five-hole.
Calvin de Haan made it 2-0 at 10:28 when his wrist shot from above the left face-off circle went through a screen and between the legs of Markstrom, who had lost his stick.
Kadri cut the lead to 2-1 at 13:31, scoring a power-play goal on a rebound to extend his point streak to five games (two goals, four assists).
“It was a great start,” Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin said. “We were sticking to our game, and then they got a big power-play goal. Our penalty kill is solid and it gives us momentum, and so that kind of killed our momentum. Still had a pretty good first period, but then obviously that second period we were just grinding in our end the whole time.”
Video: CAR@CGY: Kadri finds a loose puck and buries a PPG
Brett Ritchie tied it 2-2 at 2:31 of the second period when he banked in a shot off Raanta’s pad from the goal line.
Derek Stepan appeared to put Carolina back in front with nine seconds remaining in the second, but Flames coach Darryl Sutter challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review.
“Third period we came back, did well … got a goal that got taken back off the board, which [was the] right call,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “[Markstrom] made a great save on another one. We all had our hands in the air thinking it went in. It wasn’t our best, but I thought we worked really hard.”
Markstrom made a sprawling save on a backdoor pass from Aho to Slavin at 6:31 of the third period, one of 12 saves he made in the period. Calgary then killed off Blake Coleman‘s double-minor for high-sticking Brent Burns at 13:24.
“The penalty killers were unbelievable,” Markstrom said. “For everyone that was out there, I don’t know how many different pairings on forward and [defensemen] that was out there for that four-minute kill. That was huge for us and after that, we grabbed the momentum.”
NOTES: Aho has eight points (three goals, five assists) during a four-game point streak. … Sutter coached in his 1,402nd NHL game, passing Ron Wilson for ninth in NHL history. … Hanifin had one shot, two hits, two blocks and a minus-1 rating in 23:26 of ice time after missing one game with an undisclosed injury.
