Flames shut out Stars in Game 3, take lead in Western First Round

Cam Talbot made 35 saves for the Calgary Flames in a 2-0 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of the Western Conference First Round at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Friday.

Talbot's shutout was his second this postseason and fourth in his career in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"He was outstanding," Calgary coach Geoff Ward said. "He's the reason why we won the hockey game. He's been real good for us. I had no qualms at all. There wasn't even a question of changing goalies going into this game today (following a 5-4 loss in Game 2 on Thursday). He's been so solid for us. We knew he had confidence, (that) he would come out today and battle for us hard and give us a chance to win. He certainly did that. He was the difference in the hockey game."

WATCH: [All Stars vs. Flames highlights]

The Flames lead the best-of-7 series 2-1. Teams that win Game 3 after an NHL playoff series is tied 1-1 are 215-106 (67 percent) winning a best-of-7 series.

Mikael Backlund and TJ Brodie scored for Calgary, the No. 6 seed in the West.

"We all know we can be better," Backlund said. "I don't think we played our best game yet in the series yet. I think it shows a strength, too, to find a way to win games. You need that in the playoffs. You need a really good goalie, which we've had all along, and you also need to find ways to win. It doesn't matter how you play as long as you win in playoffs."

Anton Khudobin made 21 saves for the Stars, the No. 3 seed.

Game 4 of the best-of-7 series is in Edmonton, the West hub city, on Sunday (2 p.m. ET; CNBC, CBC, SN, FS-SW).

"We probably played better tonight than we did last night," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "We really did. The scoring opportunities were unreal. Talbot was great, so give him a lot of credit. ... Some of our best scoring chances were missing the net. It's hard to explain that one. We hit goalposts, we missed open nets so offensively, we played better than we did last night, and five goals go in last night and none go in tonight. That's hockey."

Dallas outshot Calgary 27-12 in the second and third period but was 0-for-4 on the power play.

"I just think we've got leave this game behind, look at the next game," Stars forward Mattias Janmark said. "You can't get too high after a win and you definitely can't get too low after a loss. So you've just to keep working and then focus on the next game because we lost this one and then we're going to go out and win the next game."

Backlund scored a shorthanded goal at 5:58 of the second period to put Calgary ahead 1-0. It is the third shorthanded goal this postseason, and second in as many days, for the Flames, who scored six times while on the penalty kill in 70 regular-season games.

"I think we've been really aggressive this whole [playoffs] on our PK, especially on our blue line, standing up well," Backlund said. "When the chances are there, we've gone after them aggressively. We haven't been cheating, we've just been playing within our system and when the chances are there, we've been going for it and we've been successful."

Brodie made it 2-0 at 10:36 of the third period on a slap shot from the point.

Talbot's best save came when he stopped Tyler Seguin alone in tight at 16:11 to preserve the shutout.

"I felt pretty good from the get-go," Talbot said. "They had some chances early on. I was able to feel the puck and make some saves and gain confidence from there. It was nice to get some shots early and feel the puck, especially after last night. I felt pretty good about my game tonight."

Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk did not play after he left Game 2 in the third period following a collision with Jamie Oleksiak and Jamie Benn. He is day-to-day.

Notes: Talbot is the third goalie to record multiple shutouts in a single postseason with the Flames, joining Miikka Kiprusoff (five in 2004) and Mike Vernon (three in 1989).