Calgary defended well in the opening frame, limiting their hosts to a half-dozen shots on target. And when he needed to be good, Cooley was, stopping Alexander Nikishin on a pair of opportunities including a silky rush that saw the defenceman earn a golden scoring chance from the low slot.
The Flames netminder's trickiest stop, though, came late in the period, when a centring pass from behind the net caromed off Jordan Martinook’s shin pad toward the net, but Cooley got his right pad (and skate) down to parry the disc away to safety.
The stalemate continued through the second period, but not without a lack of trying from the visitors.
Rasmus Andersson sprung Blake Coleman in free at the Hurricanes blue line, but his shot from the slot just went wide of the post. A few minutes later, Matt Coronato struck iron behind Carolina starter Brandon Bussi after he was sent in alone on goal thanks a 140-foot stretch pass from MacKenzie Weegar.
Bussi made his best save of the game eight-and-a-half minutes into the third, as Coronato earned another partial break after accepting a stretch pass from John Beecher. He stepped into a hard snapshot, but Bussi flashed the leather and snagged the disc, keeping the game scoreless
Cooley made one more stop off Martinook with a minute left on the clock, as the two teams headed to overtime without a goal on the scoreboard.
Ehlers ended proceedings 2:52 into extra time, converting on a centring pass as he crashed the net.
