5 Things - Flames vs. Maple Leafs

1. Last Time Out

Sometimes, you have no choice but to pull a rabbit out of your hat.

And this?

It was magic, alright.

Down 2-0 with 11:06 to play in front of their home fans, in a game the locals absolutely needed to keep pace in the division, there was no excuse not to clutch up and empty the tanks.

“I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that we didn’t have ‘it’ tonight. At all,” said the red-hot Blake Coleman, who kickstarted the Flames’ delirious third-period comeback with his 20th goal of the season. “But Vladdy (Dan Vladar) gave us a chance to hang around.

“This was a big game, you know? It’s a team we’re fighting with for points to claw into that wild-card picture. We talked about it in between periods, (that) we couldn’t let this slip away, no matter how we felt. So, that competitive spirit comes out of you and you just find ways to dig deep and try to get on the board.

“Good teams find ways to win on nights where you don’t have it.

“And we did that tonight.”

Yegor Sharangovich buried winner with only 17 seconds left in overtime, after Nazem Kadri – with help from Martin Pospisil and his one-handed pass for the ages – tied the game with under 10 to play in regulation. Kadri had the primary assist on the OT tally to cap a two-night effort, while leading the team with seven shots on goal.

Dan Vladar was razor-sharp between the pipes, finishing with 23 saves in place of Jacob Markstrom, who is day-to-day with a lower-body body injury. Vladar set the table for Sharky’s heroics with a breakaway save on 2022 third-overall pick Logan Cooley at 2:34 of overtime, before the Coyotes were tagged for too-many-men.

On the ensuing powerplay, Sharangovich made a great play to keep the puck in at the stripe before sliding down to the right faceoff dot and unleashing a wicked no-looker over the shoulder of Connor Ingram for his 18th of the campaign.

The shots were 14 apiece through two periods in what was a low-event game for both sides. The Flames – in their first game back from the Fathers Trip – were feeling the effects of a 10,000km, cross-continent trek to begin the new year, before finally putting away the suitcase with this and the next five happening here, in the -15 degree comfort of home.

A night like this don’t build character.

It reveals it.

“We want to put on a good show and we're fighting to make the dance, so every single game is magnified for us," Kadri said. "We're trying to show that desperation early, and we're coming together, rallying as a team, and that's a great sign.”

2. Know Your Enemy

The Leafs blew a 2-0 lead and surrendered four straight goals – including three in the third period – as they dropped a 4-2 decision on Tuesday in Edmonton.

Toronto has now lost four straight (0-3-1).

Matthew Matthews had a goal and an assist, while Pontus Holmberg had a pair of helpers and Martin Jones made 28 saves. Morgan Rielly chipped him with his seventh goal of the season to round out the offence.

“We did a lot of good things. We ran into a good team playing with a lot of confidence,” Matthews, who scored his NHL-leading 34th of the season, told reporters afterward. “It’s frustrating.

“Obviously, we’d like to not be giving up these leads, but I think on the positive side, there’s a lot of good things that we’re doing, and it’s just a matter of being consistent executing on some of these opportunities that we have later in games.”

It’s been a maddening stretch for the Leafs, who arrive in Calgary having blown leads in all four games on this current slide, including a trey of multi-goal cushions in the first, third and fourth nights.

Now, the Leafs find themselves clinging to the final playoff spot in the Atlantic, with the Red Wings and Lightning both making up ground.

And fast.

"We're a great hockey team. And we've got to ignore what everyone else says," Mitch Marner told Sportsnet's Luke Fox. "We know we're a great hockey team. We show up every night. I mean, this last four games that we've had leads, we've played some awesome hockey, some great hockey.

"Stuff goes your way. Sometimes stuff doesn't. So, for us, we just can't get frustrated at each other. We know we're doing the right things. It's going to come, so stay patient with it. Don't let anything outside of us frustrate us or get us angry."

Former Flames captain Mark Giordano returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch on Sunday. He had one shot and logged 12:47 of ice time.

3. Earning His Stripes

‘I got the eye of a tiger…’

Sing it, Colesy!

The Flames’ leading lamp-lighter isn’t quite sure what to make of his new goal song, hilariously chosen by the Flames’ talented game-day production crew.

But there’s no denying how catchy Katy Perry’s 11-year-old banger, Roar, was – and apparently still is – with the ‘Texas Tiger’ himself proudly belting out the lyrics upon arrival for his postgame media scrum.

“I actually picked my wife out in the stands and she was giving the ol' (hands in her face),” Coleman laughed. “The boys were digging it, though.

“It was a hot song back in the day. I don't know you if you remember, me and all the girls back in the day singing that in the club.”

With the run he’s on, chances are we’ll be hearing it plenty more before the season is out. Coleman – who has five strikes on a four-game goal streak – has now reached the 20-tuck mark for the first time as a Flame; he’s has already matched his point total from all of last year (38), and is on pace to score 37 times over an 82-game schedule, which would blast his previous career best of 22.

Hear him roar, indeed.

4. Quotable

Coleman on Sharangovich's hot stick:

"He's a good person. You always want to do what you can for good people and everybody's been patient. We've had plenty of people that have needed to find their game and that's what teammates are for - you pick each other up until you can get to that point. I said it earlier in the year that there were going to be point where guys that struggled in the beginning were going to be picking us up and they're doing that now. We're a family in here and that's what it's all about. Happy he's found it and hopefully he can continue to grow and mature, and as a team here."

Nazem Kadri on Sharangovich scoring the OT winner Tuesday:

“That's a scorer’s goal. He picked the corner, and saw it hit the back bar. It was a great shot.

“He’s been a great addition. He’s a kid that’s eager to learn and he’s willing to get better and soak in that knowledge to get better.”

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Martin Pospisil

The speed?

Sublime.

But the strength he showed in the process – the awareness to fend off a check and protect the puck at full gallop – along with the elite hockey mind to even attempt a pass like that?

It’s off-the-wall good for a player with less than a half year of know-how at the game’s top level.

Take another look back at Pospisil's incredible assist on Kadri’s critical third-period marker:

“He's an important player,” Coleman said of the young Slovak. “He's something we've been missing, in the sense that he just creates chaos. Good, bad or otherwise, he's giving it all he's got. He's laying the body, is a guy that makes defenders need to realize he's on the ice and you need guys like that. He has elite skill to go with it, when he can turn on the Jets and make plays like that.

“They're both (Pospisil and Connor Zary) big-time additions to our team this year and they both have a maturity in their game that's a little above their experience level. I don't think we are where we are right now in this position to push for the playoffs right now without the addition of those guys.”

Maple Leafs - Auston Matthews

No. 34 in your programs…

And, well, that same number in the goal column.

Matthews has actually ‘cooled off’ a bit lately with ‘only’ (forgive all the air quotes) eight goals in his last 12 outings.

But with 34 cookies in 41 games overall this season, the 26-year-old is hurtling toward the NHL’s first 70-goal season since Teemu Selanne and Alexander Mogilny had 76 each, more than three decades ago.