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| Courtesy AP |
In a game that shouldn’t have even made it to the shootout -- you could argue for both the Flames and Stars on this point – the Flames kept their improbable run towards the playoffs afloat with a breathtaking victory.
For the Flames a shorthanded breakaway in the first period by Alex Tanguay, when already leading 3-0, could have put the game out of reach if Tanguay had been able to convert. Instead, the Stars scored one late in the 1st and tied the game up in the middle of the third. The Flames were mightily outplayed in the 2nd (outshot 15-4 in the period) and, if it hadn’t been for Kiprusoff, it could’ve been ugly. The Flames also had a couple of prime chances in OT to end it including a goal mouth scramble but failed to score. No one was surprised when Stajan was the Flames player who was unable to convert.
For the Stars, they had a power play with two and half minutes to go in the game which produced a plethora of quality scoring chances including a blocker/post Kipper save combo that proved crucial in the dying seconds of regulation. Not even mentioning the three on one the Stars had in OT that Kipper managed to stop. Goligoski didn’t get all of it, but Kipper made the save nonetheless.
