The Calgary Flames crush Dallas Stars a fourth time during shootout – NHL update
Curtis Glencross added fuel to the wildly burning Flames Wednesday night, destroying the Stars hope of at least one victory against Calgary this season as they were once again defeated at their own American Airlines Centre in Dallas, Texas, 4-3 in a shootout.
Calgary conquered the first period, taking a big lead 3-0 only 14 minutes into the game. Glencross sent an assist to Rene Bourque for an easy score, followed by another point by Tom Kostopoulos and an unassisted goal by Anton Babchuk. This all took place a little over three minute time span.
With under two minutes remaining Dallas had to do something. Going down like this just wasn’t going to cut it, especially after they had been playing well all season. Jamie Benn was able took advantage of the extra man on the ice and scored the Stars first at the end of the starting period, decreasing the lead to 3-1.
Mike Ribeiro gave something to look forward to the 14,000 plus crowd scoring 5:12 into the second as Dallas was fully committed on shutting down the Flames defensively. Tomas Vincour got his first of the season, tying the match at the same time in the final period of play. Both teams weren’t able to score after that, forcing the game into overtime.
Miikka Kiprusoff and Kari Lehtonen both made 31 saves each out of a total of 34 attempts by both teams, leaving each other scoreless in the precious five minutes of OT.
Remaining tied in OT lead to a shootout, a situation which fans and especially Calgary loves to be in. Benn took the first attempt for the Stars, missing on Kiprusoff from 24 feet. Alex Tanguay silenced the crowd scoring on Calgary’s first attempt, followed by another miss from the Stars when Kiprusoff played his magic on Brad Richards.
It was one attempt left for Dallas and two for the Flames, hope returned when Bourque missed and Ribeiro got his second of the night while closing in on Kipper from 13 feet and tying the shootout with one left for Calgary.
All the weight was on Glencross’s shoulders as he took a snap shot from 19 feet and blasts it through Lehtonen giving Calgary their third consecutive victory. This was the fourth win over the Stars and shooting them up to a tie with Chicago for fourth place in the Western Conference.
Dallas fell to sixth place after their loss and this snapped their two game winning streak. The Stars will play host to the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
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