And it was!

One way in which this game differed from the six-game losing streak is that the Flames never, at any point, led in the game. From early in the second period, they had to overcome a two-goal deficit, and considering how their previous game against the Lightning finished, that could have been insurmountable.

This time, it wasn’t, even with Jeff Glass putting in as top tier a performance as he could have probably hoped for. A two-goal deficit quickly turned into a one-goal deficit and, not too long after, a tie game.

But not even two minutes after Johnny Gaudreau tied things up, Anthony Duclair gave Chicago the lead off of a breakaway that never should have been allowed to develop. That’s the kind of thing that very well may have killed the Flames in an earlier game; fortunately, this time, they had a whole other period with which to work.

In the third frame, the Flames out-corsied the Hawks 26-14, with the high danger tally going 10-1 in the Flames’ favour. And it wasn’t just a battle to tie it up – achieved halfway through the period – but outright dominance to close things out. After seeing the Flames fold like cheap tents throughout the second half of January and start of February they did the exact opposite, and finally made it a game worth watching. They flipped the narrative, and with it, earned a slump-busting win.

One thing that might have helped them? There were only two penalties taken the entire game – and the Flames are a dominant 5v5 team.

The Flames have faced the Blackhawks twice this season; both games have been 4-3 overtime wins. There’s just one game left to play against them.

Glass thwarted Sean Monahan at every turn, to the point it was just comical. Monahan had an outstanding game, but for the life of him, just couldn’t score – until his eighth shot of the game.

So Monahan has been in the NHL for five years now, and he’s already up to 10 overtime goals. Granted, three-on-three play has probably helped him get there, but via Corsica, six goals is the most any player in the NHL has scored at three-on-three – and last night, Monahan joined Jeff Carter, Tanner Pearson, and Vladimir Tarasenko in that group.

It isn’t just that he’s an overtime scoring force, but he’s also a scoring force in general: 24 goals is tied for 10th in the NHL, and he’s on pace for 39 this season. His career high is 31 from his sophomore year, and it seems a fair bet he’ll be able to score at least another eight over the next 30 games. His career high in points is 63, and as of now, he’s on pace for 71: this should be a career year for him, granted all things go well.

(Also great: that it took him a moment to react to scoring. He just stood there at first. Awesome.)

Credit should go to Johnny Gaudreau, as well, who was responsible for setting Monahan up for many of his chances. His 59 points has him seventh in league scoring, one point away from a tie for fourth, seven points back of first. His longest point-less streak of the season was three games back at the end of November; over the course of the losing streak, he still had four assists in six games.

Not to be outdone, Mikael Backlund had seven shots of his own and led the Flames, along with Mark Giordano, with a 5v5 64.10% CF. This was all while mostly facing off against Jonathan Toews, and Backlund had a 61.29% CF to show for it against him. He basically exerted his will over the Blackhawks throughout his 18:46 of ice time, and even though he didn’t score any goals himself, he did have a hard-earned assist on Michael Frolik’s goal.

Speaking of Frolik: he’s been back for three games now, and has a goal and assist so far. Horrific gaffe against Vegas aside, he’s been settling back in well, and was key to his line’s dominance. Backlund and Frolik’s chemistry is pretty undeniable at this point, and has been since they were first put together three years ago. Just a reminder that the Flames are lucky to have them both.

T.J. Brodie bobbled the puck and Duclair scored. He helped make up for it in overtime, but still, it could have been a backbreaker.

Travis Hamonic, meanwhile, looked like he had one of his best games as a Flame, seeing eye assist on Matt Stajan’s goal notwithstanding. The eye test provided an odd dissonance between them, though it’s probably coloured overly harshly by Brodie’s gaffe.

Fact is, though, both were over 60% CF (the entire top four defence was!), over 20 minutes of ice time each, and they had three points between them. Brodie even had the most shots of any defencemen with four; Hamonic had just one, though he was really involved in the play, and visible in a positive way.

Though it probably helped that Giordano and Dougie Hamilton played by far the most minutes in the third period – they’re still the top pairing for a reason – it was great to see the second pairing provide appropriate-level support, goal against Brodie aside. As for other defencemen: Hamilton was left to play a three-on-one perfectly, and it seems clear that Matt Bartkowski just can’t play at this level.

Stajan is on a goal-scoring streak, and it’s great. He scored the 145th goal of his career on a snipe. He has 23 games to go until he hits 1,000, and with 30 games left this season, it seems likely he’s going to hit it. Yes, his cap hit is much too high, yes, his contract is too long, but he’s been more than adequate as a fourth line centre. His shooting percentage this season is 7.1%, well below his career average of 12.8%, and it’s great to see the puck finally going in for him.

Being easy to root for doesn’t always justify someone’s place on a team. But this could be Stajan’s last year, and for the role he’s been asked to play, he’s held up his end of the bargain. He doesn’t deserve to be maligned. Good for him, and it would be nice to see him go out with a silver stick, though he probably won’t hit 150 career goals.

Though you never know – only two players have scored playoff series-winning goals for the Flames since the calendar flipped to the 2000s.