The puck slipped behind Devin Cooley and the Dallas crowd rose into the late-night noise at American Airlines Center. For Calgary, wyatt johnston turned a spirited comeback effort into a 4-3 overtime loss, but the game also showed a team that kept answering after every setback.
How did the Flames stay in the game?
Down a key defenceman for most of the night, the Flames scratched and clawed against one of the NHL’s best teams. Calgary did not score in the opening frame, and neither side found the net in a tight-checking first period. The Flames did, however, keep Dallas from getting comfortable, limiting the hosts’ clean looks until the Stars opened the scoring early in the second.
That first goal came from Justin Hryckowian after he took advantage of a carom off the end boards and chipped the puck past Cooley. Calgary answered in the second half of the period when Joel Farabee tied the game with his 19th goal of the season, finishing a rebound with a backhand into the top corner. Moments later, Yegor Sharangovich gave the Flames the lead with help from Adam Klapka, who kept the puck in at the blue line and fed the slot.
What changed when Calgary moved ahead 3-1?
The Flames pushed further in the third period when their young players combined on the power play. Matvei Gridin sent the puck down low to Matt Coronato, who found Zayne Parekh at the left point. Parekh stepped into a snapshot from the left circle and beat Jake Oettinger clean for his third goal of the season.
That was the moment Calgary seemed to have control, and the keyword wyatt johnston reappeared almost immediately. Johnston banged home a rebound 50 seconds after Parekh’s goal, then Jason Robertson tied it 4: 51 into the period on a hard pass from Matt Duchene. The quick response changed the tone of the night and forced extra time.
What decided overtime for Dallas and Calgary?
Overtime gave Calgary a chance to hold on, but Dallas earned a four-minute power play. Devin Cooley stood in long enough to keep the Flames alive, making nine saves in the overtime session alone and finishing with 21 stops on the night. Still, Johnston ended it with a backhand effort at the side of the net 3: 39 into the extra period.
Dallas also controlled the faceoff circle, winning 62 percent of the draws. Oettinger stopped 17 shots for the Stars, while Calgary’s effort was shaped by both resilience and attrition.
What did Calgary learn from this one?
The result left Calgary with a narrow defeat, but not a flat performance. Forward Aydar Suniev made his NHL season debut and logged 11: 16 of ice time on a line with Ryan Strome and Martin Pospisil. Klapka finished with two assists, showing how much the Flames leaned on contributions from across the lineup.
There was also concern on the blue line. Defenceman Kevin Bahl left early in the first period after a collision behind the Dallas net with fellow blueliner Thomas Harley. He did not return after sustaining a lower-body injury. For a team already short a defender, that absence made the rest of the night even harder.
Calgary returns home carrying both frustration and evidence that it can compete in tight games. In a building where one bounce can change the story, wyatt johnston wrote the final line for Dallas, but the Flames left with a clearer sense of how close they were to a road result that would have said more about their fight than the score alone.
