5 THINGS - FLAMES VS. SABRES
Flames look for fourth straight win to open the season
Video: Brendan Parker sets up tonight's game
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STAT PACK
Media Game Notes
Scoring Leaders
2021-22 Head-to-Head Stats
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Leading Scorers:
Flames:
Points - Nazem Kadri (4)
Goals - Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli (2)
Sabres:
Points - Rasmus Dahlin (4)
Goals - Dahlin (3)
Special Teams:
Flames:
PP - 33.3% (T-5th) / PK - 83.3% (T-12th)
Sabres:
PP - 8.3% (28th) / PK - 84.6% (11th)
Advanced Stats:
Flames:
Shot Attempts: 59.54% (3rd)
High-Danger Chances: 61.70% (4th)
Sabres:
Shot Attempts: 40.41% (30th)
High-Danger Chances: 39.62% (27th)
Never say die.
After falling behind 2-0 early on, the Flames battled back and gutted out a 3-2 victory over the Golden Knights to remain undefeated this young season.
Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Backlund tallied for the home side, while Jacob Markstrom stopped 19 shots in the victory.
All in all, a full team effort to secure the W.
"It was nice to get our first come from behind win," Kevin Rooney said. "Obviously it was a slow start to the game, I felt like we were a step behind, maybe a little tentative early on and then I thought we played a strong game after the first 12 minutes of the game, really team game.
"Real resilient group coming back there and winning that game."
Lindholm and Toffoli both tallied on the powerplay in the second period, while Backlund played the role of hero scoring with just three minutes left in regulation.
With the Flames pressing in the zone, Blake Coleman corralled the puck behind the net and delivered a perfect pass on Backlund's tape that he made no mistake about.
"Sick pass I thought, no?" Coleman joked after the game. "I just wanted to get to the net, make a hard play. Bodies coming downhill, nice finish.
"I just saw red. I didn't know who it was, just saw a body going downhill and just wanted to make sure I made a hard play to the net. Worked out and nice that went right to him."
With a 3-0 start, the Flames are one of just four teams that remain undefeated, along with the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues.
"All the points are extremly important," Tyler Toffoli said. "We've done a good job of doing the right things and finding ways to win."
Video: "They're a young, exciting team"
The Sabres enter tonight's contest after an impressive 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers Tuesday night, backed behind a 42-save performance by Eric Comrie - a career high.
Rasmus Dahlin, Tage Thompson, JJ Peterka and Alex Tuch scored, as they were able to hold off a late Edmonton push to pick up their second win of the season.
"They threw lots of pucks into Comrie's pads and he stood very tall," Sabres head coach Don Granato said after the game. "We did a great job of clearing guys out from that point and not allowing them to get real good wood on their shots. Comrie was very calm; he was more of a blocker the way they were throwing pucks to the net. It wasn't the glove saves or the blocker saves or the post-to-post saves, they were throwing pucks in from bad angles and crashing the net.
"He had to hold his ground while our defensemen would clear it out or limit the second chances, and he held his ground."
Tonight marks the second game of a four-game road swing, with a stop in Vancouver Saturday and Seattle on Tuesday to wrap up the trip.
LOOOOOCH: Milan Lucic will skate in his 1,100 NHL game tonight. Lucic has played for four teams over 16 seasons in the NHL, Boston (566), Los Angeles (81), Edmonton (243) and Calgary (209). The left-winger has 566 career points (226G, 340A) and a 2011 Stanley Cup ring to his name. Lucic will become the 211th player in NHL history to reach 1,100 games.
Video: "That's another thing that's pretty cool"
HOW SWEDE IT IS: Backlund's go-ahead goal on Tuesday was the 32nd game-winner of his career (seventh most in Flames history). Backlund is tied for ninth for the most even strength points (330) in Flames franchise history (tied with Guy Chouinard). Backlund also passed Joel Otto for the fifth most goals by a centreman (168).
MILESTONE NIGHT: Darryl Sutter coached his 1,400th NHL game on Tuesday, tying Pat Quinn for the 10th most in NHL history. Tonight Sutter will pass Quinn and sit tied for the ninth most games coached in NHL history with Ron Wilson at 1,401.
Flames- Jonathan Huberdeau
The magic that Huberdeau brings was on full display against the Golden Knights.
The winger dazzled the crowd with his playmaking, a threat each time the puck was on his stick which resulted in a two-point night during Tuesday's win over Vegas. Huberdeau now has three points in three games, all assists, and is two goals away from 200 in his career.
Sabres- Rasmus Dahlin
The former first-overall pick from the 2018 NHL Draft is off to a hot start with four points in three games, with a goal in each contest.
Dahlin is just the seventh defenceman in NHL history to open a season scoring in three straight and just the second, joining Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning, in the past 30 years.
Flames assistant coach Ryan Huska on his team's play so far:
"Different ways to win I guess is one thing. We've had some good starts to games for sure, we've had leads, we had not a very good start against Vegas where we found a way to get our game going in the second half of the game. I think the rest of our game is, we're trying to get it where we want to be consistent in what we are doing. It's early in the season of course, special teams last game, we did a good job and that's important for us for sure but it's just still, everything we're doing is a work in progress and we want to make sure that this homestand that we are on, we take advantage of. We try to work in weeks when we build our schedule and we want to do a great job with the next one in front of us and that's Buffalo."
