Hurricanes lose 2-1 in OT to Flames

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

CALGARY, ALBERTA – The Carolina Hurricanes suffered their second overtime loss in as many games, falling 2-1 to the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Thursday.

Even while losing with seconds remaining in overtime, splitting the result and earning another point was not a disappointment for Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller.

“The guys really stayed with it like the other night,” Muller continued.

“Again, it’s a big point when you come out West to grab.”

After having a day to practice and recover following a 5-4 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, in hopes of adding some more scoring depth the Hurricanes activated Alexander Semin back into the lineup off the injured reserve.

After missing 12 games due to a concussion injury suffered in mid-November, Semin played almost 21 full minutes and finished with three shots on goal.

“He got the minutes with how he’s gonna’ be physically,” Muller said.

“This is not an easy rink to play in your first time, being in the elevation, but he had some chances, he created some plays out there. We were happy with his first game back.”

As the Hurricanes trailed 1-0 heading into the third period, Jeff Skinner was once again the focal point and catalyst of the Hurricanes offense for the night.

His wrist shot from the middle slot beat Calgary goalkeeper Karri Ramo and tied the score with 8:50 left in the third period.

“We’ve had tough first periods lately, so we really focused on them,” Muller said.

“I thought we came out strong. We knew we were going to have to work hard tonight because Calgary’s been workin’ hard here. We had a little lapse in the second, but I thought we really came on strong in the third.”

As both teams continued to battle to take the lead, it was Skinner’s game-high seven shots on net that almost made the difference in winning the game during the latter stages of regulation time.

While releasing another shot on Ramo, Skinner was hooked on a breakaway attempt with 5:25 to play.

It was an ideal moment for the Hurricanes’ leading goal scorer to add to his total with the potential of adding the game-winner.

However, on the ensuing penalty shot awarded to Skinner, the Calgary netminder made the pad save and kept the game tied 1-1.

“Hindsight’s 20-20, but I could have done maybe something different there,” Skinner said.

“He made a save – I tried to go five-hole – he made the save. It’s easy lookin’ back on what you should’ve done. It would have been nice to put that one in.”

As both teams skated to a tie and secured a point apiece, they prepared themselves for overtime play.

It was an evenly fought extra period with shot attempts blocked and a few put on net, but in the end it was the Flames who pulled out the win at home as defenseman Chris Butler’s shot from the point beat Hurricanes goaltender Justin Peters with four seconds remaining.

A tough way to end it for the goaltender who made 28 saves in the losing effort while his team suffered its third consecutive loss.

Muller was not going to have his players hang their heads low about it though.

They still earned a point from the game regardless.

We’re fine,” Muller said.

“We had our chances. We just didn’t capitalize, so it came back to bite us. We knew it was going to be a low-scoring game and tight. I was happy with the way that they stuck with it tonight.”