There was no stare-down this time. When Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson scored his fifth of the season, he was either too excited or too out of practice to find a New York Islanders fan in the crowd to glare at.
It might have been both. It was a big goal in a 2-1 victory that took another third-period comeback and a shootout finish.
Things had been rather sleepy for the Flames to that point, with the Isles largely controlling the play in what felt like a bit of a dud until the third period.
It erupted from there — as Flames fans have become accustomed to in the third period this season. The home side ramped up the energy, got some great goaltending from Dustin Wolf, solid penalty killing, and capitalized on their lone powerplay opportunity when Andersson rifled a one-timer past Semyon Varlamov to tie the game less than halfway though the period.
“Absolute grind,” Andersson said post-game. “It was just a grind in the trenches. It’s a tough team to play against. They hit, they shoot, they block shots. So it was a game in the trenches — felt like you got hit all night — but I’m proud that we stuck with it.”
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Dustin Wolf Continues Dominance
Coming off his first NHL shutout and a one-goal performance in his previous pair of starts, Wolf was stellar once again. Two goals against in three games, and a complete shut-down of two Islanders skaters in the shootout had the Flames fans buzzing in the Saddledome.
Wolf agreed with a reporter that he felt like he is in a zone.
“Yeah, the zone is definitely a great word to use. That’s kind of the stuff I work on,” Wolf said, talking about the mental side of the goaltending game. “If you can reach that zone, you’re going to feel good. Our team battled that out tonight and we found a way to win.”
The 23-year-old rookie stopped 28 shots on the night, including denials against Kyle Palmieri and Bo Horvat before Justin Kirkland ended things early by scoring the Flames’ second in the showdown with his signature move. Kirkland is now two-for-three in NHL shootouts.
But he gave credit to Wolf.
“That’s, you know, it’s credit to Dustin,” Kirkland said when chatting about his shootout goal. “He makes two big saves and gives me an opportunity.”
Nasty Move By Kuzmenko
Andrei Kuzmenko has been far too quiet this season but his elite puck handling and offensive skill was on full display in the shootout. He made a dozen puck shuffle moves before wiring a perfect backhand shot past Varlamov for the winning goal in the showdown.
“Unbelievable,” Kirkland said, grinning when asked about the move. “That was pretty.”
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