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 Usually the cash goes to the one who scores the winning goal.
Hiller wouldn't divulge who received the prize Tuesday after
Calgary's 4-3 shootout win over the Anaheim Ducks at the Scotiabank
Saddledome, but that aspect was unimportant.
"It will cost me some money for the 'W,' yeah," Hiller said with a
grin. "I'll pay that with pleasure."
He wasn't alone beaming afterward. The Flames are making their
doubters take heed.
The upstart team most pegged to finish near the bottom of the league
is just one point back of the Western Conference-leading Ducks after
erasing a two-goal, third-period deficit to force overtime. Calgary
center Sean Monahan scored the winner in the tiebreaking skills
competition.
At the start of the night, the talk was how the Flames had yet to
prove themselves against some NHL heavyweights. Is this an answer?
"It's early in the year for a statement game," Calgary defenseman
Dennis Wideman said, "but it's a big win for us because it gives the
young guys the confidence to know they can go up against the best
and we can win games."
The Flames improved to 12-6-2, not bad for a squad most figured
would be in the running to draft 17-year-old center Connor McDavid
with the top overall pick, not within striking distance of the
conference's top spot.
Through two periods, the Ducks (11-4-5) looked every bit like the
powerful team they are pegged to be, not the outfit that took a 6-2
home loss to the Florida Panthers in its last game. Anaheim went
into the second intermission up 2-0 thanks to goals by defenseman
Sami Vatanen and left winger Matt Beleskey.
However, the Flames have been an outstanding third-period team --
outscoring their opponents by a 27-12 count in that period -- and
showed it yet again with their ferocious comeback.
After the hosts mustered only seven shots on goal in the first two
periods, they roared back and actually took a lead.
Left winger Jiri Hudler began the rally early in the frame when he
pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Ducks goalie
Frederik Andersen. Wideman then scored two goals -- he is tied for
the NHL lead among blueliners with seven -- with point shots.
Ducks right winger Kyle Palmieri netted his team's second power-play
goal with just under five minutes left to force extra time, but that
just set the stage for Calgary's second shootout win of the year.
"I think everyone in here is believing that we can turn games
around," said Hiller, who finished with 24 saves. "A lot of times,
third periods have been our best periods. It shows the character of
this team."
The Ducks lost their third consecutive game, two of them in extra
time. They have won only one of their last seven, but five of the
defeats were either in overtime or via shootout.
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"We beat ourselves," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "There's no
doubt in my mind. I think it was evident that after two periods, we
had total control of the game and then we do stupid stuff in the
third period and get lazy. It doesn't take much to get the crowd
back into it, and the next thing you know, it's 3-2.
"I thought it was perfect hockey for two periods. Holding another
team to seven shots in their building. We got the crowd dead.
They're dead. It was just bad plays, stupid passes, losing battles
on the boards. I don't know how you can be so great and so bad all
in the same game."
The extra-time losses aren't much consolation.
"That's big, you're still getting points," Ducks center and captain
Ryan Getzlaf said. "But we've just got to find a way to put together
60 minutes where we don't have to go to overtime every night. It's
frustrating for some of us.
"I think we're not used to playing at that level and having that
kind of thing where the guys that are supposed to be relied on to
finish games and play the right way (don't come through). We've got
to look ourselves in the mirror and play better."
Andersen stopped 16 shots through overtime.
NOTES: After being clipped by a stick near the eye in the previous
game, Flames D Mark Giordano -- who leads NHL defensemen in points
-- started wearing a visor. ... Ducks D Francois Beauchemin returned
to the team and is practicing after a battle with the mumps virus
that kept him out of the past five games. Beauchemin, out since Nov.
7, might be able to return for Thursday's game at the Vancouver
Canucks. ... Flames RW David Jones was out due to an upper-body
injury sustained in the previous game, the second time this season
he was sidelined by injury. Jones, who was on a three-game
goal-scoring spree when he was hurt, missed eight games earlier in
the season due to a lower-body injury. ... The Ducks' revolving door
of illness took out C William Karlsson but brought RW Tim Jackman
back into the lineup. Karlsson did not travel with the team to
Calgary.
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