newwinner

Helluva start.
And an even better finish.
The Flames scored two goals eight seconds apart in the first minute of Saturday night's tilt but the visiting New York Rangers would tie it up and force OT, where Mikael Backlund was the hero 1:28 in as Calgary grabbed two important points in their drive for a playoff berth.

Brendan Parker recaps Saturday's big OT victory

The Flames are now an impressive 10-2-2 in Saturday-night tilts this season.
Blueshirts blueliner Adam Fox - who was roundly booed each time he touched the puck in the game (Flames fans still mad he didn't want to play here) - was called for high-sticking Dillon Dube 50 seconds into overtime.
On that advantage, Rasmus Andersson made a great play along the boards to keep the puck in the offensive zone, the biscuit ending up on the stick of Jonathan Huberdeau who snapped a shot that Backlund deftly tipped past Jaroslav Halak.
Jacob Markstrom got the win and was excellent, turning aside 18 shots, while Halak made 29 saves. New York was on a tear coming into the outing, winning seven straight and collecting points in nine games.
Calgary was coming off a 5-2 loss to the Red Wings on Thursday night, while the Rangers had rallied for a 5-4 shootout win against the Oilers up the QEII Friday night.
These two clubs went to OT at MSG back on Feb. 6, the Rangers getting the 5-4 victory in a memorable affair.
Notable on the night was that Elias Lindholm missed the tilt as he and his wife are expecting their first child.
Andrew Mangiapane and Nazem Kadri scored in regulation in what was a thrilling start at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Mangiapane's goal was a gem, coming just 38 ticks into the tilt.
The Flames speedster gathered the puck and split defencemen Jacob Trouba and K'Andre Miller, then with the latter still in his back pocket and jostling him, he cut across the crease and outwaited Halak to put a backhand up-and-over the prone netminder.
Before that goal could be announced, the Flames broke into the Rangers zone off the ensuing faceoff and Huberdeau fed a trailing Kadri, who stepped into a rocket of a shot that found net farside under Halak's glovehand.
Youngster Jakob Pelletier got the other helper, his second NHL point and first assist after scoring against Buffalo on Feb. 11.

NYR@CGY: Mangiapane, Kadri score 2 in first minute

Just over five minutes in, Mangiapane got his second look on a clean breakway but Halak made the stop. The Flames led 11-3 in shots at one point - that after New York had a powerplay - and finished with a 13-8 edge in that department after 20 minutes.
Kadri went looking for his second in the middle stanza with a one-timer from beside the net off a lovely spinning no-look backhand feed from Huberdeau, but he couldn't get the elevation and Halak stopped it with the side of his glove.
Not long after, Nikita Zadorov flattened Artemi Panarin into the boards deep in the Flames zone, taking off with the puck after as the Rangers star slowly made his way to the bench.
Markstrom wasn't busy in the first but made some big stops when called upon as the Rangers got more rubber on net in the second, including ending up laid out flat, face-down after denying Filip Chytil on a tight-in tip.
The visitors finally got on the board with 3:07 left when newcomer Vladimir Tarasenko was in the perfect spot to put a pass into a wide-open cage.
Calgary got their second powerplay of the night with 1.4 seconds left in the frame, and during the bulk of the advantage in the third, Tyler Toffoli had the best chance but his shot was gloved by Halak.
The Flames kept coming, Kadri keeping the puck on a 2-on-1 with Huberdeau and firing, followed not long after by a Dube breakaway. But Halak stood tall on both chances.
Markstrom made a stellar stop on Mika Zibanejad during a Rangers powerplay just getting a piece of his backdoor attempt on a cross-ice feed, deflecting it high and wide.

NYR@CGY: Markstrom makes save on Zibanejad

But with two seconds left on the advantage at the 12:47 mark, the rebound of Alexis Lafreniere's shot was knocked across the line by a sliding Blake Coleman to knot things up and force OT.

NYR@CGY: Backlund tips in a PPG for the OT winner

THEY SAID IT:

"Really good effort by our club"

"Tonight's the way I have to play"

"It felt good - it's great to win in overtime"

"We're a team, we stick together"

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 32, NYR 20
Powerplay: CGY 1-3, NYR 1-2
Hits: CGY 21, NYR 26
Faceoffs: CGY 49%, NYR51%
\Scoring chances: CGY 35, NYR 23
\
High-danger scoring chances: CGY 8, NYR 11
\Courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (5-on-5)*

THE LINEUP:

UP NEXT:

The Flames host the Flyers for a 2 p.m. Family Day matinee tilt on Monday.
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