The Calgary Flames did not play a perfect game on Saturday night in the Saddledome. But despite their imperfections, they managed to eke out a point against a superior opponent in a tight game.

Speaking to the media following the game, Flames defender Travis Hamonic summed up the feel of the game.

“A lot of play on the walls, a lot of play in the corners,” said Hamonic. “Not a lot of room on the ice. I thought we played a pretty good game. Obviously you’re frustrated, they get one in overtime, that’s gonna happen. But i thought for the most part it was a really good game, back and forth. We showed obviously some resiliency, it would’ve been nice to close it out.”

Flames head coach Bill Peters agreed with Hamonic’s assessment of the style of the game.

“Real tight,” said Peters. “Both teams I thought. They know how to check. There’s a little bit of action, some flurries back and forth – four on threes, three on two-type things – early. Then they were probably trying to get it locked down in the third and we were able to find a way to get back into it. So it was a hard fought game. Not a lot of free ice out there. Not a lot of room. Whoever was managing the puck properly was the team that was getting rewarded.”

Peters has recently (and commonly) criticized his club for their puck management in games, so the fact that his team managed to claw their way back into things over the last 10 minutes of regulation with strong puck management is a positive.

That said, the Flames did give up the first goal in the game (for the 12th time in 20 games) and trailed after the first (for the ninth time) and second (for the 11th time) periods. They managed to get a point and didn’t get their doors blown off against a really good Blues squad, but there’s obviously room for improvement.

“We’re getting better here as we go,” said Peters. “Lots of good things. Lots of things that we can still work on and clean up and just tighten up a little bit. But no, it’s headed in the right direction.”