A netminding duo between Eamon McAdam with 38 saves and Alex Dubeau with 32 kept goal scoring to a minimum. 1-1 through regulation and overtime left the game to penalties where goals by Daniel Tedesco and Ben O’Connor were just enough to overcome the Panthers single by David Levin for a 2-1 Flames win.
Despite killing 6 minutes of penalties in the opening frame, it was the Flames who had the lead at the break thanks to an early start by Tedesco who scored 82 seconds into the evening.
A late first period penalty to Panthers had Flames skating with an extra guy for nearly 2 minutes to start the 2nd, but they couldn’t extend on that one or another that closed the set.
Just under 4 minutes into the 3rd, Panthers levelled off the stick of Jordan Kelsall while McAdam and Dubeau remained strong to close out regulation tied at a goal each.
Overtime, including a 7 second 5 on 3 Panthers powerplay when they pulled their netminder to go with a 5th skater, solved nothing before penalties fell the way of the visitors.
“Overall I thought it was a pretty even game by both teams who played pretty well,” Head Coach Paul Dixon offered.
“We had some penalty trouble in the first period which was where we were under most pressure for extensive stretches, but after that there were opportunities at both ends for both sides to have a lot more goals. Excellent goaltending at both ends really kept it a low scoring game and it was the goaltenders who are responsible for the game getting to overtime.”
“Obviously once you get to that stage then penalties you are just banking on goaltending and Eamon came up big as he did all night to secure the win.”
