Flames Beat Hurricanes 3-2 to End Carolina's Seven-Game Win Streak

The Calgary Flames beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 on Sunday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, ending the defending champions' seven-game winning streak with the best result of Calgary's rough young season.

After a scoreless first period, the teams traded two goals each in the second. Morgan Frost, Yegor Sharangovich and Matvei Gridin scored for Calgary, with Frost adding an assist for a two-point night. Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jalen Chatfield scored for Carolina. Calgary's third goal came in the third period, and the Flames held a one-goal lead through a late Carolina push, with Nikolaj Ehlers and Sebastian Aho both denied in the final 90 seconds.

Devin Cooley was the reason the lead survived. He made 34 saves on 36 shots, including 23 stops on 25 shots through two periods while Carolina hit the iron four times. At the other end, Brandon Bussi made 31 saves on 34 shots. Carolina outshot Calgary 36 to 34. Calgary went 1 for 4 on the power play, Carolina went 0 for 2, and the Flames won 55.2 percent of the faceoffs.

Why it matters

Carolina arrived on top of the Eastern Conference at 7-1, riding a seven-game winning streak and a five-game road winning run that opened a five-game trip with a 3-2 win in Winnipeg on Saturday. The Hurricanes were playing their second game in two nights in a second time zone. They leave Calgary at 7-2, with the streak gone.

Calgary arrived at the bottom of the league. The Flames opened the season 0-5-0, beat Anaheim on Tuesday for their first win, then lost 6-2 to Vegas on Thursday with Jonathan Huberdeau among the injured. Sunday opened a four-game homestand, and the Flames are now 2-6. One win does not repair a start like that, but beating the league's hottest team, with the backup goaltender holding a one-goal lead for a full period, is the kind of result a room can build on.

What happens next

Carolina continues its road trip. Calgary stays home for the rest of the homestand, trying to turn one good night against the champions into the start of a climb out of last place.

How Carolina arrived hot, and how Calgary had been struggling

The night before, in Winnipeg, Carolina had shown the depth that built the streak. Their top three point producers, Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov and Jackson Blake, were all held off the scoresheet, and the Hurricanes still won, converting both power play chances with depth players stepping forward. Mark Jankowski extended his goal streak to six games in that win, tying the franchise record since the club moved to Carolina from Hartford for the 1997-98 season. Jankowski was drafted by Calgary in the first round in 2012. Forward Nikolaj Ehlers, whose power play goal broke a 2-2 tie in Winnipeg, had warned his team before Calgary: "We know we've got a lot better than we did (Saturday)."

Calgary's problem list was different. Coach Ryan Huska had pointed to penalties, with his team short handed five times in each of the two games before Sunday. "You take five or six penalties a night, you're not winning," he said. The Flames had also lost all three home games this season before Sunday, and had fallen behind on the first shot, 25 seconds in, in the 6-2 loss at Vegas. Holding a lead for a full third period, with discipline and 34 saves, answered both complaints on the same night.