– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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DALLAS — Despite the wonderful hockey being played by the professional team in the Lone Star State, Texas is far from a hockey hotbed. But it is the hometown of Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman, and it was his goal that ignited a third-period comeback for his team, as well as continued a comeback for his team after a rough start to the season.
Coleman and Elias Lindholm scored 29 seconds apart at the beginning of the third period to give the Flames the lead for good, as Calgary scored four goals in the final frame in coming back from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Dallas Stars 7-4 inside American Airlines Center on Friday night. Seven different players scored for the Flames, while Jacob Markstrom, who has allowed four goals in each of his last three outings, made 24 saves.
“It just a quiet confidence. Guys are making plays, it’s up and down the lineup,” Coleman said. “It’s not relying on one guy to do the job. We know that’s our recipe, and we’re sticking with it. Guys had timely goals, got the saves when we needed them, and we’re going to sneak out of here with two points.”
Since a 4-3 home loss to the Stars on November 1 to drop their record to 2-7-1 in their first 10 games, Calgary is now 6-2-2 in its last 10 outings. Yegor Sharangovich had a goal and two assists for Calgary, with both assists coming in the final period. Coleman, Lindholm, A.J. Greer and Adam Ruzicka each had a goal and an assist.
Wyatt Johnston scored half of the Stars’ four goals, with Jamie Benn and Evgenii Dadonov getting the assists on both goals. Dallas lost the last two games of its five-game homestand, in which it went 2-2-1, and went down in defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night in a rematch of last season’s Western Conference Finals.
“We got what we deserved. The score was flattering for us in our favor at different points. Unfortunately, you have to win in all kinds of ways, and we couldn’t put together 20 minutes to find a way to win a game,” Stars head coach Pete DeBoer said. “We weren’t great. We weren’t perfect by any means. But we had a chance to win that game in the third period and just couldn’t put it together for 20 minutes. It’s disappointing.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Friday evening’s contest, with photos taken by Dallas-area photographer Ross James. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 27 pictures in total.
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