Calgary Flames 4 Dallas Stars 3 (OT) 

Flames Come From Behind in Dallas

Rick Charlton

October 14th, 2001

When a coach says he needs scoring from "unexpected sources" you know his team probably has little offence to begin with.

But the Flames took "unexpected sources" to new lengths - or depths - in their 4-3 overtime victory over Dallas last night with Bob Boughner getting his tenth career marker, Steve Begin with only the second of his career, and Denis Gauthier with the seventh goal of his short NHL life.

Only Craig Conroy, with the eventual winner in OT, could be even modestly described as a regular contributor to Calgary's offence.

But that's the way it has to be for this Flames team as they continue their incandescent start to this young season, running their record to 4-1-0-1 and looking good while doing it.

"This win is probably going to set a tone for the rest of the year," an ecstatic Conroy said after the game.

Delirious Flames fans would hope so as they wake up this morning feeling as though they were in some kind of late 1980's time warp, the Flames tied for first overall in the NHL with Montreal and the Islanders and the Oilers fourth.

This victory was also a particularly gutty one as well, the Flames down 2-0 after the first period and looking to be wiped out by a Dallas team many are considering a Stanley Cup contender. Only the stellar work of starter Roman Turek in the first kept the contest even remotely close to being salvageable.

But the Flames turned the tables in the second after an encouraging between periods talk from coach Gilbert with markers from those ubiquitous unexpected sources, Boughner and Begin, to pull even.

The Stars seemed to have the game wrapped up with Mike Modano's second marker of the game on a nifty power play tap-in from the side of the net at 10:46 of the third period. Steve Begin had been tossed from the game for a knee on knee collision with Brendan Morrow.

Toni Lydman was then penalized with only 2:53 left in the game, seeming to seal the Flames fate.

But Gauthier with a short-handed wrist shot after a terrific pass from the increasingly valuable Scott Nichol caught Stars netminder Ed Belfour with his pants down at 18:05 to bring the Flames back even. Only moments before, Benoit Hogue of the Stars had rattled a wrist-shot off the post.

It was then up to Conroy, on a bouncing puck mad scramble in front of Belfour with Dean McAmmond on the scene, to give the Flames the final victory with his first career OT goal at 4:20.

Ironically, the Flames had spent part of their practice sessions after a 1-0 loss in Nashville on Thursday, working on just such a scenario, stopping at the net and hacking away rather than skating on by. The Begin goal in the second period was also the result of such an effort as well.

Flames received another three points from defencemen last night, bringing the blueline total to 12 on 14 Flames goals scored to date.

The victory also brings the Flames home with a 2-1 mark on this three game road trip and in characteristic fashion, losing to a team beneath their grade in Nashville, then beating two of the premier Cup contenders in the league.

Dallas outshot the Flames 37-32.

Flames were one for five on the powerplay but allowed Dallas a powerplay goal in five chances as well.

OUR STARS

1) ROMAN TUREK - Three goals allowed but without him holding the fort in the first period it would have been lights out before the fat lady had finished singing. He did what he's supposed to do - kept his team in it until they could catch up.

2) MIKE MODANO - A bad sign for contrarians to see Modano entering the fifth game of the year without a point. You knew he'd bust out and he did with two goals in a dominating performance.

3) CRAIG CONROY - A revelation for his fine two way play again, he just happened to be on the scene and the last Flame to touch the puck when it rolled slowly over the goal line.

Matvichuk leveled Begin early in the third.

With the Flames trailing 3-2 in the third, Turek held off a Dallas two on one with a fine pad save on Shaun Van Allen.

NOTES & NUMBERS

The game was 64:20 minutes long and Derek Morris played 30:28 of it while Robyn Regehr wasn't far behind at 28:24. Not surprisingly, the duo of Darian Hatcher with 25:05 and Richard Matvichuk at 25:05 led the Stars. . . . . . . Denis Gauthier was a plus two for the Flames. . . . . All Flames centres were under 50% in the faceoff circle last night with a subbing McAmmond winning the only two draws he took. Joe Nieuwendyk, one of the best faceoff men in the league, took 60% of his draws while Pierre Turgeon was successful 63% of the time. It's the first time this season the Flames had been so soundly trounced in the faceoff circle. . . . . .Matvichuk, once considered something of a first round bust but now a stalwart on the Dallas blueline, led the game with an incredible 10 hits. Nearest Flames were Regehr and Dave Lowry with four each.. . . . . . Flames had 16 blocked shots, four by Regehr.