Wolf Wows Again

Coming off his first career shutout, Dustin Wolf had a helluva encore as he made 28 saves in a 2-1 shootout victory over the visiting Isles Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

The netminder is now 4-0-1 in his last five starts with some simply stunning stats: a 1.55 GAA and a .946 save percentage.

Justin Kirkland - with his parents in the stands - had his second winner of the season in the 1-on-1 battle, while Andrei Kuzmenko also tallied. Wolf denied Kyle Palmieri and Bo Horvat in the shootout to put the cherry on top of his night.

The Flames netminder made 29 stops against the visiting Predators Friday night for his milestone marker, and picked up where he left off Tuesday.

He made three massive stops in the third in rapid succession to keep his team down by just a goal before the club's leading scorer, Rasmus Andersson, would tie it up later in the frame.

The first came when he slid across his crease to stop Alexander Romanov and then moments later, he kicked out his right pad to deny Horvat on the doorstep.

On the next New York possession, he stoned Maxim Tsyplakov on a partial breakaway.

"The zone is definitely a great word to use," said Wolf, when asked if he's in 'a zone' right now. "That’s kind of the stuff I work on, the mindfulness side of the game. If you can reach that zone, you’re going to feel good. But our team battled that out tonight, we found a way to win."

Andersson had high praise for the young backstop's play.

"The more comfortable you get in this league, the more you believe in yourself, the more success you’re going to have," said Andersson. "He for sure believes in himself quite a bit. He’s been awesome, especially the last seven, eight games that he’s played. He saved us tonight."

It was Calgary’s first shootout win over New York, and fifth comeback victory of the season as they improved to 10-6-3.

It was a less-than-ideal start to the tilt when Andersson was sent to the box just 26 ticks in for tripping.

On the ensuing powerplay, MacKenzie Weegar soaked one, taking a one-timer slapshot by Palmieri off the leg, in visible pain as he made it to the bench after a clear, then walking it off before a quick return.

Daniil Miromanov – who scored the winner Friday night – snuck in from the point and cut across the net, taking a feed from Ryan Lomberg but Semyon Varlamov made the stop.

Wolf was dialled in right from the get-go, making a lovely stop on a streaking Horvat who burst down mainstreet for a partial break.

The Isles forced a turnover with Anders Lee getting a quick shot that Wolf kicked out, but the rebound was right there for Horvat with an open cage before Kevin Bahl saved a sure-goal by sweeping it out of harm’s way.

Pierre Engvall opened the scoring 1:32 into the middle stanza, toe-dragging and then snapping one far side past Wolf.

Kuzmenko was slinging magnificent backhand passes in the period, feeding one from down low to Brayden Pachal at the point that Varlamov again got a pad on, then later whipping one cross-ice through a handful of Isles to Weegar but he, too, was stopped.

The visitors went to the powerplay near the midway point of the second, with Wolf making a 10-bell save on Simon Holmstrom’s one-timer from the slot.

Shots were 15-15 after 40 minutes.

Calgary got their first powerplay of the game at 6:32 of period three when Scott Mayfield tripped Kuzmenko off a faceoff in the Isles zone.

The homeside pressed hard with a flurry of chances before Andersson’s point blast found the back of the net at 8:17, with Nazem Kadri and Martin Pospisil getting the helpers.

The Flames controlled the OT frame, with Kadri wiring one off the crossbar before Backlund was whistled for tripping giving the Isles the extra man for the last 1:07 of the frame. Noah Dobson cranked a blast off the crossbar himself on the advantage.

The Lineup:

FORWARDS

Jonathan Huberdeau - Connor Zary - Yegor Sharangovich

Martin Pospisil - Nazem Kadri - Andrei Kuzmenko

Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato

Ryan Lomberg - Justin Kirkland - Kevin Rooney

DEFENCE

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson

MacKenzie Weegar - Daniil Miromanov

Jake Bean - Brayden Pachal

GOALTENDER

Dustin Wolf (starter)

Dan Vladar

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 31, NYI 29

Powerplay: CGY 1-1, NYI 0-3

Faceoffs: CGY 62.7%, NYI %37.3

Blocked Shots: CGY 11, NYI24

Hits: CGY 18, NYI 24

Takeaways: CGY 3, NYI 1

*5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 26, NYI 20

*5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 12, NYI 7

*Courtesy of Natural Stat Trick

They Said It:

Up Next:

The Flames host the New York Rangers Thursday night at 7 p.m. Click for tickets