THAT ROCKED

It appears they've gotten the hang of this comeback thing.
And on this night - in as close to a must-win game as there is on the schedule - anything less would have spelled disaster.
If you snuck a peek at the out-of-town scoreboard at any point in the evening, you knew something had to give. The Flames were busy playing catch-up - first, from an early, 2-0 deficit and then 4-3 after two - while the team they're chasing for that final playoff spot was on its way to a 6-1 win over the Devils out in the Manitoba capital.
Fortunately, the locals had a little third-period magic in the holster for the second consecutive night.
In his first game back after missing 20 with a lower-body injury, Michael Stone played the hero, breaking a 4-4 tie with 2:38 to play in the third period - ringing his patented slapshot off the post and in behind Ducks goalie Lukas Dostal to secure a 5-4 victory.

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Milan Lucic got the rally started with his seventh of the season, tying the game at four with a filthy snipe off the rush at 6:26 of the final frame. Andrew Mangiapane, Nikita Zadorov and former Ducks Nick Ritchie added singles for the Flames, who out-shot the Ducks 13-4 in the third and 41-22 overall.
Ritchie (1G, 1A) and Tyler Toffoli had multi-point efforts.
Jacob Markstrom stopped seven of nine in the first period, before being replaced by Dan Vladar for the final 40 minutes. Vladar made 11 saves the rest of the way.
The Flames have now won four straight games for the first time this season.
"Being able to come back and win against a team like Vancouver - who's one of the hottest teams in the league - that gave us some confidence to go out there and do it again here tonight," Lucic said. "Winnipeg won, so we needed to do our part. Five games left, we're probably going to have to win all of them. Just got to take it one game at a time and tonight, we got a big win to stay in it."
Forty-eight hours ago, it was the Flames' leading scorer who supplied the fun with a two-goal performance, including the dramatic OT winner. But on the night, the locals got a wide distribution of wealth, with the foot soldiers stepping up and doing the damage on the scoresheet.
For Stone, he hadn't played since Feb. 18 and had only a few practices under his belt after being cleared by the team's medical staff.
But like a good veteran does - he stayed ready.
And immediately made an impact.

"It was good," Stone said of his first game back. "Just nice to come back in and contribute. When you get the love from all the guys, it's nice."
Lucic called it a "signature bomb" from the 6-foot-3, 210-lb. blueliner. While he normally uncorks them upwards of 100 miles per hour, this one tickled the twine at 88.3. In conversation with Stone earlier this year, he said he's making an effort to take a little heat off them to help with his accuracy.
So far, so good.
With six goals in 47 games this year, 32-year-old is only two off his career high of eight, set during the 2013-14 season when he was a member of the Arizona Coyotes.
With the win, the Flames move to 36-26-15 on the year and stay within two points of the Jets for the final playoff spot with five games left in the regular season. And yes, that includes one that has Game of the Year written all over it - a head-to-head meeting in Winnipeg this coming Wednesday.
The Flames had a good start and controlled the play in the opening few minutes, but it was the Ducks who got it on the board first, courtesy of Frank Vatrano, at 4:17. Trevor Zegras carried the puck down the right wing, leading a 4-on-3 rush that forced the defenders to back in and collapse on their goaltender. Vatrano then took a pass at full flight at the hashmarks and buried a shot over the glove to make it 1-0 Anaheim.
Dillon Dube came oh-so close to tying it on a golden chance near the midway point, but Ducks blueliner Scott Harrington took away a sure goal, diving and getting a piece of a Nazem Kadri pass at the doorstep - ironically, forcing his goalie, Lukas Dostal, into a terrific left-pad save, but keeping the puck off the stick of the awaiting Flames winger.
Moments later, Markstrom made his first good stop of the night, thwarting a Max Jones breakaway attempt to deficit at one.
But the Ducks kept coming. And to compound matters, a tough penalty call on Blake Coleman kept the homeside in chase mode.
Max Comtois punched home a loose puck at the goalmouth after Vatrano was turned aside from the left circle, putting the Ducks up 2-0 at 17:51. Coleman's penalty expired one second earlier, so it was not a powerplay goal.
Shots on net were even at nine apiece after one.
The Flames needed a spark and with 1:03 of carry-over powerplay time to open the second, they got it.
Mangiapane took a feed from Toffoli, walked in off the near circle and ripped a shot top shelf to bring the Flames within one. Mangiapane now has a pair of goals, along with an assist, on a three-game point streak.
"I think we stuck with it," Toffoli said. "Obviously, things didn't go as planned at the start of the game - we didn't play well the first two eperiods. But sticking together and getting the win is all that matters this time of year.
"Things are rolling. It's definitely easier when pucks are going in for you - and when we're scoring timely goals, it goes a long way."

The Flames then went right back to the powerplay when Calgary native Brett Leason was whistled for tripping, but this time, the home team had trouble mustering anything of consequence.
At the other end, Vladar got his first good test when Zegras got a point-blank look from the slot, but lunged out to the top of the blue paint and made a sensational, smothering stop.
Zadorov pulled the Flames even with an absolute beauty at 7:12, firing a shot bar down after Jonathan Huberdeau set him up off the rush. Then, with the Saddledome faithful spun into a tizzy, the Flames took their first lead a scant 1:06 later.

With layers of bodies clogging up the shooting lane, Troy Stecher took a step to the middle and filtered the puck inside, with Ritchie getting a piece of it en route to elude the glove hand of the goaltender.

But the Ducks weren't going quietly into the night.
Vatrano shovelled home his second of the night off a scramble in front only 58 seconds after the Stecher/Ritchie tally to make it a 3-3 game before the mid-point of the period. Harrington then put the Ducks back in front with a seeing-eye slapper, beating Vladar over the shoulder with Comtois supplying the screen in front at 12:56.
From there, the Flames took over and picked up a massive two points in the standings.
"We didn't get frustrated," Lucic said. "Especially in the third period, I thought we went out there with the focus to win the game. It was a good team effort. Obviously, giving up eight goals in the last two games really isn't a positive, but we got the win and that's the biggest thing that matters."

THEY SAID IT:

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 41 - ANA 22
Powerplay: CGY 1-for-2 - ANA 0-for-1
Hits:CGY 17 - ANA 16
Faceoffs: CGY 54% - ANA 46%
\Scoring chances: CGY 39 - ANA 16
\High-danger scoring chances: CGY 16 - ANA 6
*Courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (5-on-5)

THE LINEUP (TO START):

LINES
Andrew Mangiapane - Elias Lindholm - Tyler Toffoli
Jonathan Huberdeau - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
Nick Ritchie - Nazem Kadri - Dillon Dube
Milan Lucic - Trevor Lewis - Walker Duehr
PAIRINGS
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov - MacKenzie Weegar
Troy Stecher - Michael Stone
GOALTENDERS
Jacob Markstrom - Starter
Dan Vladar
Injuries: Chris Tanev (upper body) missed his sixth-straight game.

UP NEXT:

The Flames close out this quick homestand on Tuesday when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
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