Key Takeaways:
- The Calgary Flames won 3-1 to take a 3-2 series lead against the Dallas Stars. In the third period, Andrew Mangiapane scored the game-winning goal.
- The Stars, who led 1-0 after 40 minutes of positional solid play, didn’t give the Flames many clean exits from their end or into the attacking zone.
- For the second consecutive game, Flames coach Darryl Sutter used 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with Michael Stone filling in for Brett Ritchie.
On Wednesday, the Calgary Flames defeated the Dallas Stars 3-1 to grab a 3-2 series lead. Andrew Mangiapane scored the game-winning goal in the third period.
For the Flames, who pushed the Stars to the verge of elimination in the first round of the NHL playoffs, Mangiapane as well as Mikael Backlund each scored a goal and an assist, while Trevor Lewis added an empty-net goal.
Match 6 will take place in Dallas on Saturday. If required, Game 7 will be played on Sunday in Calgary.
For the win, Calgary goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.
Jason Robertson scored the lone goal for Dallas, while Jake Oettinger made 29 saves.
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Calgary (50-21-11) won the Pacific Division, while Dallas (46-30-6) qualified for the Western Conference playoffs as the top wild-card team.
Both teams split in their respective arenas, bringing the series to a 2-2 tie in Calgary.
At the Saddledome, the best-of-seven conference quarterfinal reverted to low-scoring games, with Calgary winning 1-0 and losing 2-0 to start the series.
At American Airlines Arena, Dallas won 4-2 and lost 4-1.
With good positional hockey for the opening 40 minutes, the Stars didn’t allow the Flames many clean exits from their end or into the offensive zone, leading 1-0.
The Flames grabbed a 2-1 lead in the third period, thanks to Mangiapane, Baklund, and Blake Coleman.
Backlund sent a backhand pass to Mangiapane near the Stars’ blue line from the neutral zone. At 13:20, Mangiapane takes 3 strides in and hits a high shot beyond Oettinger’s glove.
At 6:49 of the third period, Mangiapane gathered on Coleman’s drive to the net, tying the game.
Oettinger redirected Backlund after Mangiapane circled from beneath the goal line and centered the ball.
At 13:21 of the second period, Robertson, who led the team with 41 goals in the regular season, scored the game’s first goal and his first NHL playoff goal.
The Stars’ head coach, Rick Bowness, has shifted the 22-year-old from the top line with Joe Pavelski and Roope Hintz to the second line with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin.
Robertson drove in through the boards as well as wristed a shot into the Calgary net that glanced off Markstrom’s glove and then off defenceman Noah Hanifin.
Both teams failed to score on their two power-play opportunities, finishing the series 2-for-19.
Flames coach Darryl Sutter used 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the second consecutive game, with Michael Stone filling in for Brett Ritchie.
At the Stars’ blue line, Flames winger Johnny Gaudreau was hit in the head by a deflected puck. He headed to the locker room for treatment late in the first period but returned in the second.
Denis Gurianov and Alexander Radulov were scratched from Bowness’ Game 5 lineup.
Marian Studenic, 23, drew in for a second game in the series, and Jacob Peterson, 22, made his NHL playoff debut.
According to NHL statisticians, when a best-of-seven series is tied 2-2, the winner of Game 5 has a 219-58 series record.
The home team closes out the series 80.7 percent when it wins Game 5 to establish a 3-2 lead (138-33). The road team wins 76.4 percent of the time when this happens (81-25).
Source: Global News
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