winnerIsles

ELMONT, N.Y. - Three straight wins.

Six big points.

A heckuva way to finish a road trip.

Nazem Kadri scored in overtime as the Flames beat the Islanders 4-3 Saturday as they continue their push for a postseason berth with gutsy performances.

Meanwhile, Matt Coronato had a pair of goals and Jonathan Huberdeau, playing in his 900th game with his parents Josee and Alain in the audience, also scored - to force overtime - and had helpers on both of Coronato’s goals.

Coronato - a Long Island product from nearby Greenlawn, some 25 miles from UBS Arena - had quite a homecoming, scoring on his first shot on the first shift of the contest, finishing the three-game swing through the New York area with four tallies in three games.

Dan Vladar got the start in net and made 26 stops, while Rasmus Andersson finished the fixture with three assists.

So the race for the second Western Conference Wild Card berth looks like this:

  • Calgary leap-frogged Vancouver (who they have a game in hand over), who lost 5-3 earlier in the day to the Rangers in New York despite outshooting them 40-12.
  • They trail St. Louis by two points for that Wild Card berth, but with two games in hand, after the Blues beat the Blackhawks 4-1 also earlier Saturday.

Coronato had a big contingent of family and friends on hand – including his mom Samantha and dad Richard who were interviewed from the stands on the home TV broadcast - and boy did he put on a show for them.

The 22-year-old hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his short NHL career, and now has 37 points on the season.

The Flames were without Joel Farabee, who missed the game with illness, and MacKenzie Weegar, who took warmup but sat out the game with a lower-body injury.

Dryden Hunt and Brayden Pachal drew into the lineup in their places.

Highlights from a thrilling 4-3 OT win on Long Island

It was a heckuva first shift, Morgan Frost feeding Andersson who was sneaking in on the backside but his shot was blocked.

Coronato then opened the scoring when he circled high in the zone and snapped a shot on goal through traffic that beat Marcus Hogberg.

Coronato opens scoring 36 seconds into game on Long Island near where he grew up

Dan Vladar came up with a pair of saves on Noah Dobson and Anders Lee as the Isles pressed back after Coronato’s goal.

Bo Horvat tied it up at 10:46 when Tony DeAngelo spun and fired a shot on net that deflected right to Horvat on the backdoor who had a wide-open cage.

Then it was Huberdeau keeping the puck in the zone, with Frost going between his legs and spinning around a defender down low and passing to Huberdeau cutting towards the net but Hogberg denied him.

The Isles made it 2-1 late in the first at 17:41 off a 3-on-2 rush, Marc Gatcomb beating Vladar shortside.

As time wound down in the opening stanza, Coleman made a drop pass to Kevin Bahl who stepped into a heavy shot but Hogberg kicked it away with a pad save.

The Flames got a powerplay early in the second period and spent the whole two minutes in the Isles zone, their first of two advantages in a frame they outshot the homeside 13-6.

Coronato tied the game at 6:03 after an incredible feed from Huberdeau, beating Hogberg glove side.

Coronato scores absolute beauty to knot game up against Isles

Calgary kept creating chances in the period, among them Pachal with a nice give-and-go from Frost but he was stopped, and Frost trying to shot between his legs on the second man-up from the blue paint.

Kyle MacLean scored with 2:51 left in the third period but Huberdeau answered back just 27 seconds later, tipping home a shot from Andersson to tie it up in dramatic fashion.

Vladar made a great glove save with 13.5 second left to force extra time.

Huberdeau tips one home to force OT Saturday

That set the stage for Kadri's heroics in the extra frame. With just over a minute left on the clock, he accepted a pass from Andersson, and stepped into a snapshot from the left circle that beat Hogberg, and sent the Flames pouring over the visitors bench.

Kadri snaps home the OT winner on Long Island

The Lineup:

Forwards

Connor Zary - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil

Jonathan Huberdeau - Morgan Frost - Matt Coronato

Dryden Hunt - Yegor Sharangovich - Blake Coleman

Ryan Lomberg - Kevin Rooney - Adam Klapka

Defence

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson

Joel Hanley - Brayden Pachal

Jake Bean - Daniil Miromanov

Goaltender

Dan Vladar - starter

Dustin Wolf

They Said It:

"I think it was a great trip"

"What a big road trip for us"

"That was a great game"

"Says a lot about our group"

"Pleased with the way the guys played"

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 35, NYI 29

Powerplay: CGY 0-2, NYI 0-1

Faceoffs: CGY 34.4%, NYI 65.6%

Blocked Shots: CGY 13, NYI 16

Hits: CGY 19, NYI 19

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 23, NYI 27

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 5, NYI 11

Up Next:

The Flames return to the Scotiabank Saddledome ice Tuesday night when they host the Seattle Kraken at 7 p.m. CLICK FOR TICKETS

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