A few minutes later, right off the faceoff, Luke Kunin got the puck and snapped a wrister that beat Talbot but not the post, clanging and deflecting out of harm's way.
With the period winding down, Talbot figured that first glove save was pretty good and all - but he had better.
He absolutely robbed Calgary boy Matt Dumba, who was parked right beside the net and one-timed a cross-crease pass from Victor Rask that looked like a sure-thing-goal, however Talbot fired across the crease and snagged it with his glove, leaving both Wild players looking up and shaking their heads.
The Flames had the better of the scoring chances in the period, holding a narrow 17-14 edge in shots but finishing the period with 66.67% of the scoring chances and a Corsi-for of 54.55%.
Mats Zuccarello tied it up 38 seconds into the second stanza, finding himself wide open near the Calgary blueline and taking a long pass from Stalock, then skating in all alone and wiring one far-side.
The Flames went on their second powerplay 1:22 into the period, getting two great chances.
First, Wild defenceman Carson Soucy got his stick out to deflect a rebound shot attempt by Sean Monahan who was staring at yawning cage, then Stalock made a big glove save of his own on a shot by Gaudreau.
Speaking of the Dynamic Duo, another installment of the long-running and wildly popular Johnny and Mony Show put the Flames up 2-1 at 9:38.
Gaudreau took possession in the Calgary zone and skated it up, dishing to Monahan who drove wide into the Wild zone, passing back to No. 13 who was skating in down main street and kicked the puck up to his stick in one motion and fired it five-hole.
