The Flames pinch out the Ducks

Last season's 29th-place club burns past Anaheim

No second chances

Qualification night at Honda Center gave nobody a second chance. Lose, and your flame went dark in October. The Calgary Flames came in having finished 29th of 32 last season, and they had gone out on qualification night in two of their last three Gauntlets. The Anaheim Ducks had finished 18th, and a year ago they reached the semifinals before the Seattle Kraken stopped them.

Klapka scores, then scraps

Adam Klapka struck first with a snap shot at 8:32 of the first, set up by Maxim Tsyplakov. Anaheim hit back fast. Beckett Sennecke scored with a wrist shot 3:37 later, and 1:56 after that Leo Carlsson snapped home a power-play goal from Mikael Granlund and Judd Caulfield. Aydar Suniev tied it with a snap shot at 8:02 of the second. At 11:44, Klapka and Jeff Malott dropped the gloves, and each got five minutes.

Pospisil lights the way

Then nobody scored for 27:36. Lukas Dostal made 32 saves on 35 shots for the Ducks, and Dustin Wolf stopped 23 of 25 for Calgary. Martin Pospisil finally broke the tie at 15:38 of the third with a snap shot, assisted by Suniev and Yan Kuznetsov. Three minutes later, Yegor Sharangovich sent a wrist shot into the empty net. Anaheim's candle was snuffed, and the Flames burn on, one of 17 still lit.