Jamie Oleksiak scored the winning goal with 39.2 seconds left on the clock as the Dallas Stars recovered from a blown lead to beat the Calgary Flames 5-4 Thursday night in Edmonton and even their opening-round Stanley Cup playoff series at 1-1.
With overtime looming because the Flames scored twice in the third period, Oleksiak drove to the net from his point position to redirect a cross-ice pass from Corey Perry for the winning tally.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series will be Friday night.
Dillon Dube, the hottest of the Flames, put his team on the board just 19 seconds into the clash, the fastest goal to start a game in franchise history and third consecutive game Dube has opened the scoring, but the Stars recovered.
First, Alexander Radulov tied the game at the 2:42 mark when he found the handle during a scramble and his attempt ricocheted off the leg of a defender and into the cage.
Then it became the Miro Heiskanen show. The talented sophomore defenseman -- drafted third overall in 2017 -- used his great speed to jump into a rush and ended up with a breakaway that he converted at 11:14 of the opening period.
Heiskanen netted his second of the night just before the five-minute mark of the second period, the beneficiary of a lucky break. He simply sent a sharp-angled shot that eluded Flames goalie Cam Talbot to make it a 3-1 game.
The Flames received a jolt of life when defenseman Derek Forbort's goal, a fluttering point shot that somehow beat Ben Bishop for his first career goal at 13:00 of the period, made it a one-goal game. But Perry restored the two-goal edge for Dallas 125 seconds later during a power play.
However, Tobias Rieder's short-handed tally, a self-created breakaway, brought the Flames within one with 7:36 remaining in regulation and sparked the Flames to draw even when Sam Bennett redirected Elias Lindholm's shot-pass with 2:49 left on the clock.
Bishop made 22 saves in the win, his first game back after missing three due to injury, while Talbot stopped 31 shots for the Flames.
The loss came at a double cost to the Flames, with leading scorer Matthew Tkachuk leaving the game a few times. He suffered a spear to the groin from Jamie Benn early and in the third period was sandwiched by Benn and Oleksiak.
--Field Level Media
Calgary | Dallas | |
Sam Bennett 1 | Points | Miro Heiskanen 2 |
Sam Bennett 1 | Goals | Miro Heiskanen 2 |
TJ Brodie 1 | Assists | John Klingberg 2 |
Sam Bennett 1 | Power Play Goals | Corey Perry 1 |
Tobias Rieder 1 | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Cam Talbot .861 | Save Percentage | Ben Bishop .846 |
Cam Talbot 31 | Saves | Ben Bishop 22 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Calgary | 26 | 4 | 1-4 | 3-4 | 8 | 32 |
Dallas | 36 | 5 | 1-4 | 3-4 | 8 | 36 |