Despite winning the first game of the first Battle of Alberta playoff series in 31 years against the rival Edmonton Oilers, the Calgary Flames find themselves on the brink of elimination three games later.
The Flames nearly evened the series on Tuesday when they came back from a 3-0 deficit — tying the game on a bizarre 132-foot short-handed shot from their own zone by Rasmus Andersson with 9:04 left in the third that somehow completely fooled Oilers goalie Mike Smith.
But Edmonton stormed back with the second goals of the game by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane to win the game 5-3 and take a 3-1 stranglehold on the second-round series.
Despite the loss, the Flames are taking some solace in how they battled back to make a game of it.
"I like how we played," said Flames head coach Darryl Sutter. "I know we’re in a hole, but it’s like saying we had to win on the road, now we have to win at home.
"We hung around tonight and we’re not going to go away easy and if they thought they were going to beat us easy, that wasn’t the case."
When it comes to Calgary’s chances to bounce back from a 3-1 deficit, the numbers are not kind.
Calgary is 0-9 when trailing a series 3-1, while in the history of the NHL teams are 296-31 in that sticky situation.
Don't tell that to the Flames players, though.
"There's a reason why we play seven (games)," said Calgary forward Mikael Backlund. "That quote has been said a lot this playoffs, but that’s the truth. We know we played well today. I think the game could have gone either way.
"We know we’re really strong at home and we have to start that one game at home and we know we are strong at home."
Flames defenceman Andersson said he sees no reason his team can't rattle off three wins in a row just like the Oilers have and still win this series.
"We believe in our group," he said. "Every single person in our locker room believes in it. There's no reason why we can't win three in a row, but it all starts with the next game. We've got to win that one and we've got to take care of home ice. It starts with one and we take it from there."
Meanwhile, the Oilers are 14-1 in series where they capture victories in three of the first four games.
Game 5 takes place on Thursday in Calgary.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2022
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars. W5's documentary 'Buried Evidence' airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV.
The massive white orb drifting across U.S. airspace has triggered a diplomatic maelstrom and is blowing up on social media. A look at what's known about the balloon crossing the U.S. and what isn't.
In the field of cancer treatment, nothing is more important than diagnosing and treating the problem as quickly as possible — but according to new survey data, about one in four Canadian cancer patients report that they are still experiencing cancelled or postponed appointments.
The oldest preserved vertebrate brain has been found in a 319-million-year-old fossilized fish skull that was removed from an English coal mine over a century ago.
A train derailment and resulting large fire prompted an evacuation order and a declaration of a state of emergency in an Ohio village near the Pennsylvania state line on Friday night, covering the area in billows of smoke lit orange by the flames below.
The suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that was found floating over sensitive military sites in the western United States had been tracked by Canada's government since last weekend as it passed through Canadian airspace, sources tell CTV News.
An Edmonton man who received a ticket from the city under the phase 2 residential parking ban earlier this week says his street has finally been plowed — five days after his vehicle was ticketed.
Marc, Seth and Zacary James are the Melisizwe Brothers, and they performed at Jasper Place High School on Friday as part of Edmonton Public School Black History Month celebrations.
Technology in Alberta that is expected to allow doctors to more accurately and effectively treat cancerous tumours with radiation enters clinical trials next week.
A man who took part in four traffic-stopping protests in Metro Vancouver in an effort to save old-growth forests has been given a conditional sentence and six months' probation by a provincial court judge.
The mayors of Port Coquitlam and Port Moody want Nav Canada — the organization that creates flight paths for airports across the country — to pause its plans for a new YVR arrivals route that will direct many large airplanes over their communities.
With all of the Maritimes still under extreme cold warnings Saturday morning, more than 34,000 households and businesses are without power, as of 11 a.m.
A man who took part in four traffic-stopping protests in Metro Vancouver in an effort to save old-growth forests has been given a conditional sentence and six months' probation by a provincial court judge.
An emergency room doctor on Vancouver Island is calling on the leadership of the health authority to resign, saying harassment by Island Health officials is prompting doctors to abandon the region amid a critical shortage of health-care workers.
After being charged with speeding by a city-operated photo radar device, a Toronto family was able to successfully fight the charge in court largely due to one small detail.
Torontonians appear to be returning downtown in greater numbers but the pace of the city’s economic recovery still lags behind many other North American cities, a new study suggests.
Residents from Quebec to Newfoundland and Labrador are waking up this morning to more extreme cold weather. Emergency officials warned people to seek shelter and monitor for frostbite if they had to be outside overnight, as the temperature across much of Eastern Canada was expected to feel like -40 C to -50 C with the wind chill.
A Quebec university study found that nearly three years of the pandemic have had an effect on the travel habits of Quebecers: even with the partial or complete lifting of restrictions, they increasingly prefer to travel at home. The most recent Cahier des tendances published by the Transat Chair in Tourism at the École des sciences de la gestion de l'UQAM revealed that inflation and health measures hurt many Quebecers.
Waterloo regional police issued a robbery warning Thursday evening after they said two convenience stores and a restaurant in Kitchener were robbed within a 30 minute span.
After months of driving around the city with an advertisement for a kidney donor on her bright red car, Debbie Onishenko will soon be able to rip off the decals as her search has ended.
An investigation that lasted almost two years has resulted in moose hunting violation convictions for six people and a lodge in Red Lake in northwestern Ontario.
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars. W5's documentary 'Buried Evidence' airs Saturday at 7 p.m. on CTV.
Winnipeg police released a new image of a 31-year-old woman who has been missing since early last year on Friday in the hope it may generate new information on her whereabouts.
A fire destroyed a popular paint and hobby shop in Winkler Thursday afternoon with black smoke prompting Winkler police to close off a stretch of Highway 32 for more than an hour.
Saskatchewan is reacting to the removal of controversial amendment G4 to Bill C-21 by the federal Liberals, which banned certain semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.
