Flames Fall In Overtime

Third period goal by Drury gives Flames point


October 22nd, 2002
D'Arcy McGrath

AP Photo

OT Loss: Flames force OT only to lose in the extra session.

The plan, essentially backfired.

Start your back up goaltender, Jamie McLennan in Detroit - a game that is difficult to win under any circumstances.

Then come back with your ace in the seocnd night of back to back games against Minnestoa to secure a 2-1-0 road trip and two key wins against teams that Calgary has to beat.

Whoops.

Hey ... it could be worse.

Trailing 3-2 going into the third period, the Flames were in jeopardy of leaving Minnesota completely empty handed ... again.

That's before the heroics of new Flames Chris Drury, who jumped on some Martin Gelinas crease trash, sending the game into an extra stanza.

The Flames gained and lost the lead twice in the first period.

First Stephane Yelle opened the scoring, finally securing his first of the season and 1st as a Flame. On the play Wild stopper Manny Fernandez was late getting across the net on a Chris Clark slapper that missed the net, giving Yelle a wide open net. He wouldn't miss.

The Wild tied it on a goal that Roman Turek would likely love to have back. Bill Muckalt took a pass from Antti Laaksonen and slid a weak back hand through his legs tying the score.

Six minutes later the Flames were back for more when Marc Savard converted a deft Jarome Iginla set up to score his first of the season, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead.

The Flames then proceeded to get into penalty trouble when Rob Niedermayer and Bob Boughner were both whistled down near the end of the period.

Using the two man advantage effectively, Marian Gaborik beat Turek high to tie the score going into the second.

The Wild secured the only goal of the second period when Antti Laaksonen scored to put the Wild up a goal, setting up Drury's third period tying goal. Turek was left flat footed on this one, beat high short side from a tough angle.

In overtime, Iginla was afforded a great chance to win the contest earlier but fired a slapper off the short side post.

Later on the same shift, Martin Gelinas was nabbed for high sticking, sending the Wild on the powerplay once again.

With the advantage Cliff Ronning converted a cross crease rebound to win the game for the home side.

The overtime loss gives the Flames a 2-3-1-1 record on the season, and three points on the three game Western Conference road trip.

The Flames now have a 0-2-1-0 record at home, and a 2-1-0-1 record away from the Saddledome.

The Flames host the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

 

Scoreboard

Minnesota Wild 4
Calgary Flames 3

Box Score

FLAMES LINES

Niedermayer Savard Iginla
Gelinas Conroy Drury
Nichol Yelle Clark
Begin Johansson Sloan
 
Lydman Regehr
Gauthier Boughner
Buzek Leopold

OUR THREE STARS

1 Cliff Ronning - Wily but tiny veteran had a two point night including the overtime winner. 

2 Marion Gaborik - Young star also scores and sets up winner. 

3 Toni Lydman - Assist, was +1, and played half the game!

SAVE OF THE GAME

Manny Fernandez stones Calgary center Craig Conroy in the third period, coming all the way across the crease to preserve the Wild one goal lead. Chris Drury would tie things up a few minutes later.

HIT OF THE GAME

Denis Gauthier simply gets all of Wild forward Bill Muckalt with a patented Gauthier along the boards hip check. Muckalt, who scored earlier in the contest had to leave the game with a dislocated shoulder

NOTES & STATS

Rookie Chuck Kobasew was scratched from the lineup due to personal issues. ... The Flames continued their awful trend on special teams giving up two powerplay goals on eight attempts, while coming up empty on five powerplays of their own. ... Toni Lydman led all skaters with 29:29 of ice time on the evening. ... Martin Gelinas' penalty call in overtime may have many a Flame fan scratching his head. It didn't appear to make contact. ... Marc Savard may have scored his first of the season but he was on the ice for two Minnesota even strength goals and finished the night -1, as did his linemates Jarome Iginla and Rob Niedermayer. ... Niedermayer, incidentally, picked up his first point of the season, garnering an assist on Savard's goal. ... home town boy Jordan Leopold played his first professional regular season game in his home state. He was on the ice for 22:20, was even, and had no shots on goal.

 

  Calgarypuck.com
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