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 A couple of guys understandably wanted to keep theirs.
Right winger Brian McGrattan scored his first goal of the season,
and defenseman Chris Butler notched his second with 3.6 seconds left
in overtime as the Flames registered a 2-1 overtime victory Thursday
against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
"Not a chance I'm giving that one away. I only get so many so I've
got to keep that one and try and get another one next game," Butler
said.
Thursday's game seemed to be destined for a shootout, but Butler
scored on a wrist shot from the point for the winner. Center Paul
Byron, a recent call-up from the minors, earned his second assist of
the night on the play.
Thanks to the offensive contributions of their unlikely heroes, the
Flames improved to 12-15-4.
Center Jeff Skinner scored the lone goal for the Hurricanes
(13-13-7). That was the only blemish of the night for Flames
goaltender Karri Ramo, who made 29 saves, including 15 in the final
period as Carolina controlled the play late.
"We had chances, we just didn't capitalize and it came back to bite
us," said Hurricanes coach Kirk Muller. "I thought it was going to
be a low-scoring game, tight. I was happy the way we stuck with it
tonight."
Calgary's enforcer, McGrattan, broke a scoreless stalemate with just
over two minutes remaining in the second period. He fired a shot
from the slot through goalie Justin Peters' legs for his first goal
since April.
"I missed a couple of pretty good chances over the last week. It's
nice to get the monkey off the back," said McGrattan, who also was
credited with two hits and was named the first star. "Fortunately at
home, too."
Skinner tied the score at the 11:10 mark of the third period,
zipping a shot past Ramo to spoil his bid for his first NHL shutout.
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Skinner also hit the goal post in the second period and
missed a golden opportunity to score the goal-ahead goal on a
penalty shot with just over five minutes remaining in the third,
with Ramo slamming his pads to maintain the tie.
"Hindsight is 20-20 but I could have done, maybe, something
different there," Skinner said. "I tried to go five-hole and he
made the save. It's easy looking back on what you should have
done, but it would have been nice to put that one in."
Peters finished with 28 saves, but was out-duelled by Ramo at
the opposite end.
"(Ramo) was very, very good. He deserves the win," said Flames
coach Bob Hartley.
The Flames are headed out on a five-game road-swing that starts
Saturday in Buffalo against the Sabres. The Hurricanes wrap up
their four-game trip with Saturday's visit to the Phoenix
Coyotes.
NOTES: The Flames made headlines before Thursday's game,
announcing that GM Jay Feaster and John Weisbrod, their
assistant general manager of player personnel, were relieved of
their duties. Brian Burke, Calgary's president of hockey
operations, will serve as acting GM but insisted he is not
interested in the job full time. "We needed to make a change to
get to the next level, and that's why today we took the steps we
took, and the search has begun," Burke said. ... After missing
12 games with a concussion, Hurricanes RW Alexander Semin was
activated from injured reserve to face the Flames. ... LW Curtis
Glencross and RW TJ Galiardi both returned to Calgary's lineup.
Glencross missed 16 games with a knee injury, and Galiardi was
out for seven games with back spasms. ... The Flames assigned LW
Sven Baertschi, their first-round pick in 2011, to AHL
Abbotsford.
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