They scratched and clawed to secure a point.
But their hosts weren't gracious enough to let the Flames leave town with two.
Sebastian Aho scored the decider 3:16 into overtime, giving Carolina a 2-1 victory over Calgary at Lenovo Center in Raleigh.
Nazem Kadri helped the Flames secure a point - and move into a tie with the Canucks for the second Western Conference wild card berth - with his third-period slapper.
Carolina controlled the play through a first period that produced no goals, outshooting Calgary 12-1, the Flames' lone shot coming off the stick of Rasmus Andersson from a sharp angle along the goal-line.
But Dustin Wolf answered every challenge between the Calgary pipes, including a nice look from the high slot from Calgary-born Taylor Hall that called for a pad stop. Later, he swallowed up a Brent Burns slapper that made its way to the net through heavy traffic.
Period two was a different story.
The Flames came out flying to start the frame, but could not solve Hurricanes netminder Pyotr Kochetkov on several glorious opportunities - a list that included breakaways for both Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, the latter featuring a brave poke-check from the Carolina keeper.
Matt Coronato had a couple of looks, too. He was denied on a 2-on-1 rush in the opening minute of the frame, then later on a powerplay, his redirect of a hard Mikael Backlund pass parried away by Kochetkov.
Carolina opened the scoring in the final minute of period two thanks to defenceman Jaccob Slavin, who jumped up into the rush, tapping home a cross-crease feed from Jackson Blake for his sixth goal of the season.
But despite falling behind, the Flames kept moving their feet.
Martin Pospisil drew a tripping penalty, then a minute later Canes forward Sebastian Aho was booked for a hook on Blake Coleman at the side of the Carolina net.
And that proved to be just the bit of good fortune Calgary needed.
With the open space on the two-man advantage, they worked the puck around to the right circle and - just as the first penalty expired - Jonathan Huberdeau set up Kadri for a one-timer that grazed off Kochetkov and sailed into the twine above his right shoulder.
