CALGARY — Jamie Drysdale scored the overtime winner for the Anaheim Ducks in a 3-2 victory over the host Calgary Flames on Monday.
Drysdale tapped in a Troy Terry pass at 3:26 of extra time.
Cam Fowler and Rickard Rakell also scored for the Ducks (2-1-0), who won the first of their four straight road games.
Anaheim goaltender John Gibson made 41 saves for the win after sitting out Friday’s loss to Minnesota with a lower-body-injury.
Blake Coleman scored in his Flames debut and Elias Lindholm also had a goal for Calgary (0-2-0).
Johnny Gaudreau had two assists, while Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom stopped 24 shots in the loss.
Scotiabank Saddledome wasn’t full for the Flames’ first regular-season game with spectators since March 8, 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic had the Flames playing in front of empty seats in the 19,289-seat arena until the pre-season.
With Ducks defenceman Josh Manson serving high-sticking penalty with just under four minutes to go, Calgary’s power play couldn’t produce a go-ahead goal.
Rakell on a give and go with Adam Henrique pulled Anaheim even at 12:55 of the third period.
Henrique fed an unchecked Rakell in the high slot for the latter to whip the puck over Markstrom’s right pad.
Calgary led 2-1 at 3:52 of the second period on Lindholm’s second in as many games.
He collected a cross-ice pass from Gaudreau and threaded a shot between Gibson’s pads from the faceoff dot.
Calgary’s Milan Lucic and Anaheim’s Nicolas Deslauriers fought following a faceoff midway through the second period.
Fowler pulled the visitors even with a power-play goal at 15:54 of the opening period. He wristed a drop pass from Kevin Shattenkirk by Markstrom’s right pad.
Anaheim had a man-advantage because Matthew Tkachuk chopped an airborne puck down while standing on Calgary’s bench, and was called for interference.
Coleman scored the season’s first goal at the Saddledome at 7:43. Gaudreau tapped the puck up to the winger in the neutral zone.
Coleman generated a shooting lane with his speed and fired a wrist shot under Gibson’s left arm.
Winner of back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Coleman signed a six-year, US$29.4-million contract with Calgary in the off-season.
The Flames start a five-game road trip Thursday in Detroit.
Notes: Calgary is without a captain. The Flames are rotating assistant captaincies among four players: Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, Sean Monahan and Chris Tanev. … Former Flames head coach Geoff Ward, now a Ducks assistant coach, returned to the Saddledome for the first time since Calgary fired him March 4. … Mason McTavish, who at age 18 is Anaheim’s youngest-ever goal scorer, didn’t play Monday’s third period because of a lower-body injury.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2021.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press