Taking No Pitt-y

PITTSBURGH — Head Coach Ryan Huska said at his morning availability Saturday that he anticipated a solid effort from his group.

Against the Penguins Saturday afternoon, he got it.

Connor Zary and Matt Coronato scored the goals, Devin Cooley marked his return to the crease after a week-long illness with 27 saves, and the Flames knocked off the Penguins 2-1 to earn their first victory of this five-game road trip.

"I liked our first period. I thought we did a really good job of almost, you know, setting a temple of the game in the first period," Huska commented after the game. "I think we were a hard team to play against. They picked their game up as it went along, but I thought we hung in there and stayed with it.

"I liked our penalty kill, I thought it had good urgency tonight, and our goaltender was good for us, especially as the game went on."

Cooley, who scratched from the lineup Monday and limited in both practice time and exposure to his teammates over the week, admitted post-game he was feeling the fatigue.

'Very tired, but it was a really good win," the netminder said. "There was a lot of excuses, you know, you could have tonight, but for me, every time you have an excuse, it just makes it a really fun challenge. That's how I try to look at it."

The game could not have started much better for the Flames, who took the lead on a Zary marker 2:33 into proceedings. The winger calmly picked off a D-to-D pass in his own zone, then sped in alone on Pittsburgh starter Arturs Silovs, snapping the puck low on the Latvian netminder for his eighth goal of the season, and fourth in his past seven games.

Calgary spent a good chunk of the opening frame in the offensive zone, testing Silovs on an odd-man attempt from Joel Farabee and a sharp-angled shot by Adam Klapka, but the score remained 1-0 through 20 minutes of play.

Brayden Pachal delivered a thunderous check early in the second. The defender spotted Egor Chinakov trying to cut to the middle of the ice with the pick, stepped in, and lowered the boom to an audible gasp from the PPG Paints Arena crowd.

But Chinakov answered back on the scoresheet just prior to the midpoint of the hockey game, converting an Evgeni Malkin cross-ice pass from the right circle to even the contest at a goal apiece.

Cooley stopped nine of 10 shots that came his way in the middle stanza, a run that included a one-timer save off former Calgary Hitmen star Ben Kindel as well as a shoulder stop on a Rickard Rakell slot shot, both on Penguins powerplays.

Coronato made his presence felt all afternoon long. From getting under the skin of Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby - prompting a post-whistle cross-check to the small of the back from the future Hall of Fame in the first period - to getting the visitors back in front 42 seconds into period three. Coronato accepted a pass from Rasmus Andersson on the right wing, picked his spot and snapped the puck stick-side past Silovs’ blocker hand.

That goal gave the Flames some jump. Rookie William Stromgren had a glorious chance minutes later, after he danced around a Pittsburgh defender in the slot, then Silovs made his best save of the night at the seven-minute mark off Jonathan Huberdeau, who deked in the low slot, pulled the puck back to his forehand, but could not get the disc past the goaltender's outstretched right pad.

The Penguins thought they'd tied the game with about seven minutes to play on a wraparound from Tommy Novak, but the goal was immediately called off after Crosby bumped into Cooley in the crease.

Calgary kept pushing. Nazem Kadri was robbed by Silovs - again with the right pad - inside the final five minutes on a tic-tac-toe setup that started with MacKenzie Weegar, and ran through Zary in the right circle.

The Lineup:

FORWARDS

Jonathan Huberdeau - Nazem Kadri - Joel Farabee

Yegor Sharangovich - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato

Connor Zary - Morgan Frost - Adam Klapka

Ryan Lomberg - Justin Kirkland - William Stromgren

DEFENCE

Yan Kuznetsov - MacKenzie Weegar

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson

Joel Hanley - Brayden Pachal

GOALTENDERS

Devin Cooley - starter

Dustin Wolf

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 25, PIT 28

Powerplay: CGY 0-3, PIT 0-3

Faceoffs: CGY 43.6%, PIT 56.4%

Hits: CGY 17, PIT 15

Blocked Shots: CGY 18, PIT 17

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 16, PIT 22

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 4, PIT 9

Up Next:

The Flames will make the quick trip to Columbus, Ohio for a Tuesday tilt with the Blue Jackets at 5 p.m. MT, before the five-game road swing wraps up in Chicago Thursday.