Hamilton scores late goal to fuel Flames past Ducks

CALGARY-- Dougie Hamilton scored with 16 seconds remaining in the third period to give the Calgary Flames a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Micheal Ferland and Mark Giordano scored, and Mike Smith made 27 saves for the Flames (21-16-4), who have won three games in a row after losing three straight.
"It's big," Hamilton said. "I think every game lately has been a four-point game. Two points every game is what we're trying to get and we need that to try to get into the Stanley Cup] Playoffs. It's big."
***[WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Flames highlights]*
Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Getzlaf scored, and John Gibson made 28 saves for the Ducks (19-15-9), who are 3-1-1 in their past five games and 5-2-1 in their past eight entering a six-day break.

"It's really hard," Getzlaf said. "With the amount of work we had to do to get ourselves back in the game, to let it slip with 16 seconds left, it's heartbreaking at the moment. We're going to go into this break much like we did last year and hopefully we can use it."
Hamilton took a cross-slot pass from Ferland and faked before shooting for the game-winner.
"He was yelling for the puck … I think he was, I'm not sure," Ferland said. "Just heat of the moment. I bobbled the puck. It was a hard pass. I kind of saw Dougie coming down. I laid it in there for him praying he was going to put it in."
Anaheim scored twice in the third period to make it 2-2. Silfverberg scored an unassisted shorthanded goal at 2:56, and Getzlaf tied the game with a slap shot at 6:50.
The Flames took a 2-0 lead with goals 44 seconds apart in the first period. Ferland one-timed a pass from below the goal line by Johnny Gaudreau at 7:51, and Giordano's point shot deflected off Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa at 8:35.

"We couldn't have gotten in the room fast enough after that one," Getzlaf said. "That was one of the worst periods of hockey that we played."

Goal of the game

Hamilton's goal at 19:44 of the third period.

Save of the game

Smith's save on Corey Perry at 16:02 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Getzlaf's goal at 6:50 of the third period.

They said it

"I think we're just learning to win, learning to deal with the emotional roller-coaster ride throughout the course of a game. You just can't get too high and can't get too low. You've got to be even keel shift to shift. We got a little out of sorts there in the third period and we found a way to regroup." -- Flames goaltender Mike Smith
"We've got to make sure that we come prepared to play in the first. I think our first 20 (minutes) was not good enough, and then obviously after that in the third period, we started playing with the puck, we started moving our feet. It's not just the guy with the puck. It takes all five. Everyone's got to want the puck and help each other out." -- Ducks forward Jakob Silfverberg

Need to know

Ducks forward Corey Perry played 19:21 with three shots on goal and three hits after missing 11 games with a lower-body injury. … This was the first game this season the Ducks have had Perry, Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler in the lineup. Anaheim entered with 234 man games lost to injury. … Getzlaf has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past five games and 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) in his past 12 games. … Flames forward Sam Bennett played his 200th NHL game. … Gaudreau has five assists in his past three games after getting four points (one goal, three assists) in his previous nine. … Smith has allowed 23 goals in his past 11 games.

What's next

Ducks: At the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 13 (10:30 p.m. ET; FS-W, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Flames: At the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, SNW, NHL.TV)