Rittich makes 34 saves, boosts Flames to shootout win against Stars

DALLAS -- David Rittich made 34 saves for the Calgary Flames, including late in overtime against Alexander Radulov on a penalty shot, in a come-from-behind 3-2 shootout win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

"The big save on the penalty shot was huge," Flames coach Bill Peters said. "We got stuck out there for a little bit on that first shift in overtime], and those guys were tired. We found a way to hang on to the puck a little more as overtime went along, and then a real good job by the guys in the shootout, [Rittich] included."
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Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin scored in the third period for the Flames (2-1-1), and Johnny Gaudreau scored the deciding goal in the shootout.
"It was a good game for us, and I'm glad we got the two points," Rittich said. "We played the right way from the beginning. We had a couple of mistakes early, but that's part of hockey. We're going to figure it out, for sure."
Joel L'Esperance and Jamie Benn scored for the Stars (1-3-1), who have lost their first two home games of the season.
"I mean, we had the effort tonight," Benn said. "Pretty much the deciding play was my turnover in the third. It's a stupid play and it cost us, and the game shouldn't have even gone into overtime or shootout."
Hanifin tied the game 2-2 at 5:32 when he scored on a rush after Matthew Tkachuk stole the puck from Benn in the Calgary zone, caught up to it in the neutral zone, and skated it into the Dallas zone. Hanifin tapped in a drop pass from Mikael Backlund in the slot.

L'Esperance tapped in a pass from defenseman Joel Hanley at 16:39 of the second period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.
"We created a turnover at our blue line and we had a few guys beat a few of their guys back, and Hanley made a good play," L'Esperance said. "Big shot and got their guy to go down, and he made a good pass to me on the backdoor."
Benn scored on the power play nine seconds into the third period off a pass from Roope Hintz to make it 2-0. It was the first power-play goal of the season for the Stars after they started 0-for-13.
Lindholm got the Flames within 2-1 with a power-play goal at 2:49.

Radulov was awarded a penalty shot with 21 seconds remaining in overtime after he was tripped by Calgary defenseman Mark Giordano.
"It's not a good feeling," Giordano said. "It's right up there with any bad feeling. But we had a lot of confidence in [Rittich]. I thought he was really good, especially in the second because they were the better team in the second period. He kept us in that game, and we were able to get a huge win."
Dallas goalie Ben Bishop made 27 saves.

They said it

"We were hungry. It's a good two points for us, and I'm glad we scored those two goals. We didn't give up and we kept pushing, so it's good for us." -- Flames goalie David Rittich on coming back from down 2-0
"It's the biggest confidence boost you can get as a team. He's been dialed in right from camp, and he's been really good this year. It carried over from last year. He's a calm goalie in there, talks a lot, and he's really having a great start for us. He finds a way to keep it tight. I thought our first period was good, and we battled back in the third." -- Flames captain Mark Giordano on Rittich
"It's early in the year. You can't be results-oriented. We're not happy with the results. We do think it was our best game of the year, against a really good team. But we're finding ways to let other teams come back. That second goal can't happen to us, we've got to manage the game better." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery
"That's life in the NHL. I think we played better today. I think we had some really good looks. Our power play was a lot better too, we got one, but we could have had more. We are going to keep working on that as well. I think if we keep playing like this, we're going to get the result as well." -- Stars defenseman John Klingberg

Need to know

The Flames ended a six-game losing streak against the Stars. Their previous win against Dallas was March 17, 2017. … Tkachuk has five points (two goals, three assists) in four games. … Hintz has three goals and an assist during a three-game point streak.

What's next

Flames: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; SN1, CITY, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Stars: Host the Washington Capitals on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-SW, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)