Staring up from a 3 goal hole at the end of the opening frame, Flames rallied for 6 goals against just a single reply the rest of the way to recover the evening and deliver a 6-4 win at Dundee Stars.
At 9:23 Stars kicked off the scoring with a Hugo Reinhardt goal. A shorthanded follow up by Philippe Sanche in the 14th minute and an Elijiah Barriga strike 79 seconds from period time had the home team enjoying a 3 goal spread at the break.
Flames roared back with 4 in a row to take a short lived lead in the middle set. Mike Crocock got it started at 25:16. Brett Ferguson continued the rally less than 60 seconds later and Jordan Klimek in the 36th minute had the teams back on level terms. A shorthanded Ferguson goal set Flames to a lead 70 seconds from period time, but an immediate powerplay reply by Cole Michael Fraser ensured the 3rd would begin with and even split of 8 the goals.
A little under 4 minutes into the final frame, Ryan Tait converted a Flames powerplay and put them back in front with what turned out to be the winner. Flames had to kill a penalty for 2 of the last 3 minutes and did so successfully before Peter Crinella guaranteed the outcome when he netted the insurance marker 46 seconds from close.
“It certainly was not the way you draw up plans for a win,” stated Paul Dixon. “Some early mistakes quickly ended up in the back of our net and it served up a huge challenge for our bench the rest of the way.”
“Those things are going to happen from time to time, and we have to credit the guys for a great response that got us back into the game. We recognized there was still a lot of game left. Nobody quit and we were fortunate enough to be able to turn that effort into a win.”
“You never want to spot a team a lead like that, but we showed a lot of character in grabbing the evening back so we can enjoy the points during a long ride home and then try to get ready again for Dundee when they visit us Sunday.”
