CALGARY, AB. -The Carolina Hurricanes had a 2-0 lead over the Calgary Flames on Saturday, however left with just one point after coming out on the wrong side of a 3-2 score in overtime.

The Story

Looking to get back on track after a disappointing 6-4 defeat to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday, Sebastian Aho ensured that his team would not start behind the eight ball in tonight's effort.
Just 1:44 into the first period #20 corralled a puck at neutral ice and went one-on-one against his former teammate Noah Hanifin. Aho turned on the jets, beat Calgary's defender to the outside, and snuck one underneath Jacob Markstrom to give his team the early lead.

Riding the momentum from the game-opening tally, Carolina was then able to double their lead before the first period came to a conclusion.
The trio of Stefan Noesen, Paul Stastny and Derek Stepan, playing their inaugural full game together as a line, collected a chip in the Calgary end and turned on the pressure. Sustaining possession and creating several chances, it was eventually Calvin de Haan who put a puck on from the point that beat the Flames netminder.
de Haan's first of the year made it 2-0 in favor of the visitors, but the tide of the contest began to turn after.

Flames forward Nazem Kadri drew a tripping minor less than three minutes following and he'd then capitalize on it himself. The 2022 Stanley Cup Champion scooped up a loose puck in the slot and put it back past Antti Raanta, who was making his second start of the campaign for Rod Brind'Amour's club.
Carolina was able to take their 2-1 advantage into the middle frame, but again, the charge was underway for the home club.
The Flames outshot the Canes 14-2 during the middle 20 minutes, including a sharp angle shot from Brett Ritchie that snuck by Raanta to tie the contest.
Just when it looked like Carolina was going to be able to survive the frame and take the 2-2 score into the second intermission, they instead nearly stole the lead. Derek Stepan was able beat Markstrom from the slot with just 7.4 seconds remaining, but Darryl Sutter and the Flames successfully challenged for offsides to wipe the goal away.
The third period was tightly contested, with Stepan's club earning the better of the scoring chances. Carolina had four minutes of power play time inside the final seven minutes of regulation and was not able to score, a moment that would come back to hurt them.
In the bonus frame it was Flames forward Tyler Toffoli who netted the game-winner, depositing a shot from the slot after a setup from Rasmus Andersson.

They Said It

Sebastian Ahooffering his thoughts on tonight's contest...
"I liked our start. We were pretty good the whole first period, except we gave up a penalty kill goal and we didn't cash in on our power play. At the end of the day, that was the game tonight. We had a huge opportunity there at the end, four minutes on the power play. We have to make them pay there. Us special teams guys, that's on us."
Jaccob Slavinon the performance of Antti Raanta, who made 29 saves in the overtime defeat...
"He played solid. He kept us in there during the second period. He made some huge saves. We were grinding and he was our backstop. We have two solid goaltenders and we know we can count on them every night. They've been continuing to show that."
Rod Brind'Amourproviding his assessment of the contest...
"We needed to connect [on the power play in the third period]. We didn't look very good there and that was tough. We had a really good start to the game, in the second period we took penalties and that got us on our heels... It wasn't our best game, but I thought we worked really hard."

Bonus Notes

• Antti Raanta's first loss of the season comes after turning away 29 out of 32 shots against.
• Tonight was the first contest of the campaign in which both Andrei Svechnikov and Martin Necas did not earn a point.
• Paul Stastny, playing center for the first time this season, went 5-for-6 in the faceoff dot. He also earned an assist on de Haan's marker.

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What's Next?

The team is scheduled to fly to Vancouver post-game and slated to have an off day on Sunday. They'll return to action with their fifth and final game of their west coast swing Monday against Vancouver at 10:30 p.m. EST.
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