Backlund, Mangiapane come through in third period as Flames rally past Stars in Game 5

Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger looks on as Calgary Flames Ice crew making repairs to the glass during the second period against the Calgary Flames in Game 5 of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Saddledome. The Flames won 3-1 on May 11, 2022.Sergei Belski/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters

How quickly fortunes can change in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Heading into the third period down a goal Wednesday, the outlook was looking bleak for the Calgary Flames, their offence having been quietly contained and facing the probability of heading to Dallas for a win-or-go-home Game 6.

But a four-minute spell of magic from Calgary’s second line saw the Flames turn the game and series on its head, with Michael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane each scoring once and setting up the other, the latter for the game-winner in a 3-1 victory. As a result, Calgary now heads to Dallas with a chance to advance to the conference semi-finals for just the third time since it won the Stanley Cup in 1989.

History will be on Calgary’s side when it takes the ice on Friday, too, with the Flames enjoying a .700 winning percentage in the 10 series in which it won Game 5 to break a 2-2 deadlock in a best-of-seven series.

For the second straight game, Calgary head coach Darryl Sutter decided to dress 11 forwards and seven defencemen in Dallas, with Brett Ritchie once again the odd man out once again Wednesday, with Sutter choosing to stick with the formula that produced a crucial win.

Not only did the introduction of Michael Stone as the extra defenceman for his first action of the series help level the series at 2-2 heading back to Calgary, but the veteran blueliner also produced a game-high eight shots.

Sutter’s counterpart, Rick Bowness, chose to shuffle his own deck following the loss. Despite accounting for 232 points during the regular season, Bowness decided to break up his top line for this game, replacing Jason Robertson with Michael Raffl on the left wing alongside Roope Hintz and Joe Pavelski, who led the team with three goals and four points.

But while the 67-year-old coach hoped that the move would reinvigorate his offence after just one goal in Game 4 – and hopefully inject more speed and aggression into their play – he stressed the importance of getting back to the defensive effort that had served his club so well in the first three games.

“We have to play defence first,” he said Wednesday morning. “We get offence from defence. [If] we try to go chance for chance for these guys, it’s in [Calgary’s] favour. We created enough scoring chances last game to win the game, we just gave them too many.”

However, scoring chances were few and far between rigth off the bat on Wednesday. For the second straight contest, the two teams battled to a scoreless opening 20 minutes, with both squads combining for just seven shots apiece.

In a series that had proven to be the most miserly in this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, with both teams accounting for just seven goals each – easily the lowest totals among the 16 postseason participants – there was some symmetry to be found in those first-period totals, even if the beauty was sometimes hard to ascertain.

Given the goaltending talent on display though, perhaps it was hardly that surprising.

Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who was named as one of the three finalists for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender on Tuesday, led the NHL in shutouts this season with nine, and already has one postseason shutout to his name this spring. With a .952 save percentage and 1.27 goals-against average, Markstrom has carried over his regular-season brilliance to the playoffs.

At the other end, Jake Oettinger, in his first playoff series as a professional, has been arguably one of the stories of the opening round, posting a .960 save percentage and a 1.53 GAA.

After making 50 saves in Tuesday’s Game 4 loss to the Flames – Calgary had 54 shots, a franchise record for a non-overtime playoff game – Oettinger was called on early once again here to stymie a Matthew Tkachuk breakaway.

At the other end, the newest addition to Dallas’s top line, Raffl, dug the puck out in the corner and found Marian Studenic alone in front, but Markstrom stood tall to deny him.

For a team that put up 54 shots in its previous outing – a franchise record for a non-overtime playoff game – Calgary found chance creation an uphill slog for much of the night.

Just like in Monday’s tilt, fans had to wait until after the midway point for the game to come to light. Unfortunately for the sellout crowd inside the Saddledome, it was Dallas who managed to ignite first. Reacting positively to his demotion, second-year winger Robertson – who had a team-high 40 goals during the regular season – batted a pass from Jamie Benn out of the air for the first Stanley Cup playoff goal of his career at the 13:21 mark of the period.

Given that the team that scored first had gone on to win the first four games of the series, the goal certainly took some of the air out of the building.

Entering the most important 20-minute period of their season, Michael Backlund found himself all alone in front just 13 seconds in, but was unable to beat Oettinger.

The Flames finally found the breakthrough with 13:11 remaining in the game. While Oettinger managed to stuff Blake Coleman in close, Andrew Mangiapane seized on the rebound, wheeled around and found Michael Backlund on the edge of the crease, giving the Flames’ longest-tenured player a simple tap-in to knot the score at 1-1.

With the crowd suddenly back in the game, the Flames seemed to find a new sense of freedom on the ice, attacking the Dallas goal with greater pace and purpose.

Having set up the first goal, Mangiapane then powered in his first goal of the 2022 playoffs with just under 10 minutes remaining, taking a pass from Backlund and firing a wrist shot that beat Oettinger with its sheer pace. Nikita Zadorov also picked up an assist on the goal.

Loud chants of “Go Flames Go!” filled the arena as the team played out the remainder. It was far from plain sailing, and the Flames had to rely on Markstrom with just over two minutes to go when the puck found its way to the stick of Joe Pavelski, who already had three goals in these playoffs. But the Vezina candidate got his pad on the shot to preserve the victory, before Trevor Lewis added an empty-netter to guarantee it.