THE SKINNY: FLAMES @ STARS - GAME 6
The Flames look to close out their opening-round series tonight in Dallas
Video: Brendan Parker sets up tonight's big Game 6 tilt
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GAME DAY VIDEO
Game Day with Brendan Parker
Pregame Interviews
GAME DAY FEATURES
Lewis 'A Huge Addition'
Say What - 'Not Easy to Accomplish'
AT THURSDAY'S AVAILABILITY
'Lot of Excitement'
Interviews with Coleman, Tanev & Sutter
STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
Head-to-Head Stats
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LEADING SCORERS:
Flames:
1. Johnny Gaudreau (1-4-5)
2. Elias Lindholm (3-1-4)
3. Trevor Lewis (2-1-3)
Stars:
1. Joe Pavelski (3-1-4)
2. Tyler Seguin (1-1-2)
3. Roope Hintz (1-1-2)
SPECIAL TEAMS:
Powerplay:
Flames - 10.5% (13th)
Stars - 10.0% (15th)
Penalty Kill:
Flames - 90.0% (3rd)
Stars - 89.5% (4th)
Shot Attempts:
Flames - 60.61% (1st)
Stars - 39.39% (16th)
High-Danger Scoring Chances:
Flames - 57.65% (2nd)
Stars - 42.35% (15th)
My, oh my. Where to begin?
By definition, it wasn't a 'must' win. But down 1-0 after 40 bizarre minutes in a pivotal Game 5, it certainly felt like the Flames and one of their best seasons in franchise history were hanging precariously in the balance.
Then, the heroes emerged.
Andrew Mangiapane, Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman put the team on their back and steered home a 3-1 win, and now take a 3-2 series lead back to Dallas with a chance to close it out tonight.
"It's that time of year when you have a really good team like we do, you don't want to let opportunities like this slip by," said Coleman, a back-to-back Cup winner, who was instrumental in Wednesday's delirious, third-period comeback.
"I feel like our group is a special group, and sometimes you just need that reminder that chances like this don't happen every year. You've got to be willing to pay the price to create those life-long memories, because these are the games that you remember."
Mangiapane made a great pass to set up Backlund's game-tying goal, then went bar down on Dallas door-stopper Jake Oettinger to put the Flames in front only a few shifts later. It was a massive two-point effort for a player that set a personal high with 35 goals in the regular season, but had been held off the scoresheet in the first four nights of the series.
With the C of Red providing a deafening soundtrack, the Flames brought it home - another flight-proven leader in Trevor Lewis adding to the occasion with a crucial empty-net tally late in the contest.
Overall, the Flames outshot the Stars 16-5 in the frame and had all four of the high-danger scoring chances in the period. It goes down as a 3-1 victory, with Jacob Markstrom holding team in the game for the opening 40 minutes, and shutting things down with 20 saves in all.
Coleman, though, was a real difference-maker. He's won the last two championships as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and knows a thing or two about the wild swings in momentum that playoff hockey has to offer.
As the game gets harder, he gets better. And with a pair of diamond-encrusted rings to show for the physical toll of the past two summers, it's clear he wants to add to those memories, here, in his first year as a Flame.
There's a long way to go before achieving that goal.
But taking care of business in Game 6 and advancing to the second round for the first time since 2015 would be a big deal for this franchise.
"It's a tough challenge," Coleman said. "If there's something I've learned over the past few years, it's that closing a team out is the hardest part of a series and winning that fourth game is the hardest game you've got to win. The job is certainly not done. There's a lot of work ahead of us here and they're going to be a proud group
"You've got to put them in a position where they don't want it anymore."
Video: "That third period is a great model for us"
If there's one thing we've learned about the Stars and this tight-checking affair as a whole, it's that nothing has come easy.
And like the old saying goes, that fourth win will certainly be the toughest.
The Flames have one of the most important things on their side as they return to the (un)friendly confines of the American Airlines Center, though: Momentum.
But they're not taking that or anything for granted as they look to stomp out the season of their stingy opponent.
"This time of year, if there's not a buzz around, something's wrong," Coleman said. "It's definitely in the room. We feel it. There was a lot of excitement after the comeback last night. But that's to my point where you have to settle back in and re-focus because we haven't won anything yet.
"We'll celebrate when we actually have something to celebrate."
"We have to be better than we were yesterday," added Chris Tanev. "Each game gets tougher, (from) Game 1 to 2 to 3. And we know that they're going to be better than they were yesterday, so we've got to be better than we were."
The Flames have an all-time series record of 9-4 when they bring a 3-2 stranglehold into Game 6.
Before the Flames boarded their flight to Dallas Thursday, the NHL announced the three finalists for the Hart Trophy as the league MVP.
Despite setting career highs in every available metric and recording a team-leading 115 points (40G, 75A), Johnny Gaudreau was curiously left off the ballot.
"I guess I'm bias because I see him all the time, but he's definitely one of the best players in the NHL," Coleman said. "He's what you buy tickets to watch.
"He's one of those players that's just so dynamic and like I said, he puts butts in seats and the season he had is incredible.
"Obviously, I think Johnny would be the first to tell you that he'd trade the Hart for the Cup any day, so we'll go with that."
Well said.
It's all about perspective.
One of Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews or Igor Shesterkin will take home the honours when the awards are announced after the Stanley Cup Final.
But with the season Gaudreau had - hitting the century mark for the first time in his career and putting up more even-strength points than anyone else in the last 25 years - you figured he might get some more love.
Either way, Gaudreau has been lights-out this year for the Flames. And he'll continue to be, if they want to get to where they want to go.
"Johnny's been really good in the playoffs," said Head Coach Darryl Sutter. "He's taken that step. You could see during the season and now he's doing it in the playoffs.
"I'm proud of Johnny."
Video: "Johnny's been really good in the playoffs"
STARS HEAD COACH RICK BOWNESS:
"They took it to another level and we didn't handle it very well. We stayed with them for two periods, obviously. They cranked it up in the third period."
"We were playing our game, we weren't giving up much, they weren't giving up much, it was a hard-fought 49 minutes. We stayed with them for 40 minutes, there's no question. But they went up here, and we just kind of stayed here. We just couldn't get going."
JAMIE BENN:
"We get to go home and play in front of our fans. We knew it was going to be a long series."
JASON ROBERTSON:
"We're going to go home; we've always been a good home team this year. It's unfortunate that we lose the game in the third period, but there are some positives to build off and we'll have to use those for next game."
