Through one period of road hockey, the Calgary Flames weren’t looking great. It’ll probably shock you to learn that they took several penalties. Two power play goals from the Nashville Predators later, things looked bleak against the defending Western Conference kingpins.

But the Flames turned things around, stayed out of the box and managed to run Nashville’s show at even strength. Off some timely goals and smart play from basically their entire team, they managed to tie things late and win 3-2 in a shootout to creep one game above .500.

The Flames took a pair of early minors in the first period – arguably borderline calls, but calls nonetheless – and Nashville made them pay. With Mark Jankowski in the box, Filip Forsberg jammed home a loose puck to make it 1-0. Less than a minute later, with Matt Stajan in the box, Roman Josi one-timed a shot past a screened Mike Smith to make it 2-0. The visitors mostly stayed out of the box from there and began to get their legs under them in the rest of the period. Shots were 11-9 Flames and scoring chances were 9-4 Flames.

Both teams had their chances in the second, but neither could bury anything. The Flames generally looked more dangerous than Nashville. Shots were 12-11 Nashville and scoring chances were tied at 8-8.

Sam Bennett had a great scoring chance early in the third, leading to a reviewed play after Curtis Lazar crashed the net and nearly put the puck over the line. It was reviewed and was not a goal.

Midway through the third, the Flames finally broke the goose-egg. Off a Mikael Backlund face-off win, Dougie Hamilton shifted the puck to Matthew Tkachuk along the boards. With several Predators between him and the net, Tkachuk decided to drive the net and took several defenders with him – beating Pekka Rinne to make it 2-1.

A few minutes later, Micheal Ferland scored a beauty off the rush to tie it up. Johnny Gaudreau sprung him into the zone and Ferland danced around Ryan Johansen and then went upstairs on Rinne to tie it up at 2-2.

Nobody was able to score in the remainder of the third period, so it was off to overtime! Third period shots were 8-5 for Calgary, while scoring chances were 10-3 for the Flames.

Off to overtime! It was back and forth. There was a great chance for Gaudreau on a redirect late off a Sean Monahan set up but no goals. (Shots were 4-2 Nashville.) So off to the shootout they went: Filip Forsberg scored for Nashville, but Monahan and Tkachuk scored for the Flames to win it by a 3-2 score.

Nashvillle’s special teams was better than Calgary’s special teams, but the Flames were able to overcome and were much better at even strength than the Predators. If you trim out the Flames’ rough first five or 10 minutes, they were borderline dominant. But in a hostile enemy barn, one of the toughest buildings in the league these days, they clawed back after spotting Nashville a pair. It was an impressive game overall.

Let’s go with Tkachuk for his “regular” goal and the shootout winner.

But lots of players were good for the Flames. Outside of the fourth line, you could make a case that everybody had a good game for once.

The Ferland goal tied things up and guaranteed that the Flames would get a point. It was also a big blinking sign that the Predators had completely lost their handle on this game.

(It was also a really nice goal.)

Zack Fischer had a goal in Spokane’s 6-4 win over the Hitmen in Calgary. Matthew Phillips had a goal in Victoria’s 7-2 shellacking of Saskatoon.

The Flames (5-4-0) jump on a plane and head to Missouri. They play the St. Louis Blues tomorrow night.