WATCH: Calgarians celebrate the Flames winning game one of their playoff series
Those who wondered if the Calgary Flames could come from behind in the post-season like they did during the regular season now have an answer.
Kris Russell scored with less than a minute left in regulation to give the Calgary Flames a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
The goal completed a third period comeback for the Flames, while the Canucks have now lost seven straight home playoff games dating back to 2011.
“Those guys are unbelievable,” Flames coach Bob Hartley said of his team’s ability to erase late deficits. “They always find a way.”
WATCH: Postgame coverage and fan reaction from Rogers Arena
Vancouver came out hitting in the first period, with Ronalds Kenins throwing his weight around. According to Russell, the Flames seemed to be back on their heels a bit in the early going.
“They kind of overwhelmed us a little a bit, the playoffs and the whole experience,” says Russell. “But I thought we calmed down and we got back to the basics, playing our style of game, getting pucks deep and trying to get some traffic. When we can do that, usually we can do pretty well.”
Bo Horvat, playing in his first NHL playoff game, opened the scoring at 12:08 of the second period on a bouncing puck that eluded Flames goaltender Jonas Hiller to give Vancouver the lead.
WATCH: Horvat’s goal
Horvat’s goal was one of only four shots the Canucks had on net in the second period. Canucks netminder Eddie Lack followed up his 10 saves in the first period with another 10 in the second.
The Flames evened things up eight minutes into the third period when David Jones wired the puck past Lack after a turnover from Canucks defenceman Yannick Weber.
WATCH: David Jones’ goal
The Jones goal sparked the Flames who poured on the pressure in the game’s late stages until Russell scored the winner.
After the game, Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins said the team tried too hard to regain the lead, resulting in some poor choices that led to the late goal.
“Sometimes when they score you want to get it back and you try to maybe overextend yourself a little bit.”
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-with files from Canadian Press
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