Brett Ferguson scored 30 seconds into overtime, ensuring a pair of Daniel Tedesco goals and singles by Ryan Tait and Ben O’Connor would lift Flames to a 5-4 win on the road at Sheffield Steelers.
Less than 4 minutes after puck drop Tedesco pushed Flames into a lead but Brett Neumann replied shortly after on a powerplay. Flames did take a multi goal advantage to break thanks to Ben O’Connor at 13:06 and Tedesco’s 2nd on the powerplay near the back end of the frame.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the lead wouldn’t hold for long in the 2nd with a Sheffield pair in quick succession to tie it with goals by Robert Dowd in the 26th minute and Marc Olivier-Vallerand less than 90 seconds later on the powerplay. Under 8 minutes from time in the set, Flames found themselves down a pair of men for not a lot less than the full 2 minutes, but they managed to see out the kill and get back to 5 on 5 at least still square on 3 goals each. Their own powerplay called just 16 seconds from period time managed to get the lead back when it was converted 8 seconds later thanks to Tait.
Sheffield went on the attack for much of the 3rd period, throwing 14 shots on Eamon McAdam who turned them all away until a late Steelers shorthanded strike by Scott Allen squared it at 4 each. An immediate follow up Flames powerplay saw out the 3rd and carried 26 seconds into Overtime.
In the extra stanza, the visitors gained possession and controlled the puck throughout the extra man expiry and seconds after that the game was over thanks to Ferguson’s winner.
McAdam stopped 27 of 31 shots while Matt Greefield at Sheffield’s end went 24 for 29.
“We had a really good start to the game not just with the scoring but with some very solid puck possession and forechecking throughout the 1st period,” said Paul Dixon.
“In the 2nd we found ourselves in some penalty trouble and it put us in a bad position. Fortunately, although they did pull even, we were able to see out a 3 on 5 situation for an extended period and that was certainly a big boost just getting out of that without falling behind then our own powerplay scoring another to go back to the dressing room with a lead was key.”
“In the 3rd, we ended up back on our heels while they pressed hard, which is not something a team does on purpose but it happens and with some timely saves we were able to keep Sheffield’s damage to a minimum and hold on for a massive overtime win.”
“We couldn’t have asked for more from the weekend, and even made up a small bit of ground on Belfast at the top so that should keep the excitement and intensity up with the final few games on our schedule.”
