On the road at Glasgow, Flames shrugged off 2 goal hole less than 10 minutes into the evening and recovered for a 4-2 win over Clan.
Clan wasted little time kicking off the scoring thanks to Stephen Dixon’s opener 68 seconds after puck drop. Just ahead of the period’s midway mark, Mathieu Roy had the home team ahead by a pair.
It was only 37 seconds of 2nd period play before Flames had the game level at 2 each thanks to Brett Ferguson 19 seconds after re-start and Peter Crinella before the stanza was a minute old. Flames then had several powerplays, including an extensive 5 on 3, but were not able to take advantage and grab a lead so the teams headed to a winner take all 3rd.
Another Flames quick one while the ice was still wet by Ryan Tait, this time only 17 second into the set, had Spectrum’s men in their first lead of the contest. Late in the period, Flames went back to an extended 5 on 3, and this time they converted with Crinella’s 2nd of the night at 53:44 to ice the result.
Taz Burman turned aside 38 of 40 shots in his net, while Clan netminder John Muse made 35 stops on 39 attempts.
“It was a pretty rough start to the game, both in terms of the score and in the flow of play,” admitted Head Coach Paul Dixon.
“We really struggled in the first period to even have good possession and Clan were all over us for most of that stretch. They not only created some great chances but obviously scored on a couple and you never want to come this far and find yourselves in that kind of hole so early.”
“We were like a different team when the 2nd period started and evened it up really quickly and were able to be in control of the puck and the play for much more significant periods of time from that point. It was key that we were able to finally get a goal on the powerplay with the late one to give us some breathing space.”
“It is a good recovery by the guys, and now we look forward to getting home to take on Cardiff in an important Cup game.”
