Giordano leads Flames to OT win over Detroit

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[October 24, 2015]  CALGARY, Alberta -- Mark Giordano led the Calgary Flames to a much needed win Friday, and the team is hoping it snaps them out of an early-season funk moving forward.

The defenseman's second goal of the game with 1:48 remaining in overtime gave the Flames a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

The win snapped a four-game home and overall losing streak for the Flames (2-5-0). The Red Wings (3-3-1) have dropped four straight.

"It feels really good," Giordano said. "I thought that's our game out there. We played our game all night. I thought we deserved a better fate earlier in the game, but we waited right until the end.

"It was a great atmosphere out there. I'm happy for our team to get back in the win column. We deserved that one I thought and got rewarded late."

During the three-on-three overtime session, Giordano took a pass from left winger Johnny Gaudreau in the Detroit zone and deked Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard.
 


"When I got the puck from Johnny, my first instinct was to shoot, but the goalie charged out and raced over and I surprised myself with that one," Giordano said.

Giordano finished with two goals and an assist. Gaudreau assisted on both Giordano goals. Jonas Hiller stopped 27 Detroit shots and has been in goal for both Calgary wins this season.

"(Jonas) stepped up and played a great game for us, kept us in it and made some really timely saves," said Flames center Sean Monahan. "It's a big credit to him for that win. He stepped up for us and Gio took charge for us too. That's why he's our captain."

Flames coach Bob Hartley was relieved to get a win at home.

"It means a lot," he said. "We had a great second. We even had a better third period. I like our pressure. We never gave up. We got rewarded. We hit a few posts. There were lots of pucks that were bouncing. I was pushing for our guys because gosh, they've worked so hard. We got rewarded so it's a great feeling."

Calgary center Joe Colborne sent the game to overtime by tipping in Giordano's shot from the point with 1:12 remaining in the third period.

Howard held the Red Wings in the game with 37 saves but took little comfort in his performance.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "At the end of the day we didn't get the extra point and that's all that matters."

First-period power play goals by center Gustav Nyquist and defenseman Brendan Smith staked the Red Wings to a 2-1 lead.

Nyquist opened the scoring on the power play at 7:38 of the first period, one-timing a pass from center Henrik Zetterberg past Hiller.

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The Flames tied it at 11:02 when Giordano's shot from the point got through a crowd and over Howard's stick-side shoulder.

Smith beat Hiller to the glove side from the point at 12:40, also while Detroit was enjoying a man advantage.

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said his team tried to protect the lead too much in the third period.

"We didn't get on our toes enough," he said. "When we did have time in their end we didn't do a good enough job of getting pucks to the net, not that we weren't attempting to do so.

"We got to do a better job of getting through."

Calgary now heads for New York to face the Rangers on Sunday and the Islanders on Monday. The Red Wings are in Vancouver to face the Canucks on Saturday.

NOTES: D Ladislav Smid returned to the Flames lineup on Friday after being out since Jan. 19 because of a herniated disc in his neck that required surgery. He last played Jan. 19 against Detroit, but the injured occurred in a contest Dec. 12 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. ... Calgary was without D TJ Brodie (broken bone in hand) and C Lance Bouma (broken fibula). Healthy scratches were LW Brandon Bollig and D Jakub Nakladal, who was recalled from its AHL affiliate in Stockton on Wednesday. ... Absent for Detroit due to injury were C Pavel Datsyuk (ankle), RW Johan Franzen (post-concussion symptoms) and C Brad Richards (back). Richards, who has two assists in six games, played Wednesday in Edmonton and is listed as day-to-day. ... Scratches were D Jakub Kindl and RW Tomas Jurco.

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