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The Calgary Flames went into Bell Centre to face the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night, and they generally looked pretty good. They made just enough mistakes – on both sides of special teams – to be trailing by a goal in the waning minutes of the game. But a late goal from youngster Matt Coronato sent the game to overtime, and another goal from Coronato finished the game.
The Flames rallied back to beat the Canadiens by a 3-2 score in overtime to kick off their three game eastern road trip in dramatic fashion.

The rundown

The Flames looked strong early, skating well and cycling the puck nicely in the Montreal end. Unfortunately, they couldn’t translate territorial advantage into shots, scoring chances or goals. Montreal gained momentum as the period wore on and really peppered Dustin Wolf with strong chances in the Flames’ end, but the netminder stood tall.
First period shots were 15-10 Canadiens. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 19-6 Canadiens (high-dangers were 6-5 Canadiens).
Early in the second period, the Flames opened the scoring with a weird goal. A Daniil Miromanov shot hit Nazem Kadri, who had fallen to the ice while battling with the Montreal player in the slot area. The puck glanced off Kadri’s backside and went right to Connor Zary, slightly to the other side of the slot area, and Zary fired the puck past Sam Montembeault and into the Habs net to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
Later in the period, though, the Canadiens evened it up. With Justin Kirkland in the penalty box and the Habs on the PP, a few Flames defenders got bunched up in the corner in a puck battle. But Montreal won that battle and Joel Armia fed Brendan Gallagher in the net-front area. With oodles of time and space, Gallagher beat Dustin Wolf to tie the game up at 1-1.
Second period shots were 13-5 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 11-4 Flames (high-dangers were 1-1).
Montreal pulled ahead in the third period on a Flames power play. A turnover sent Jake Evans and Armia in on a two-on-one against MacKenzie Weegar, and Armia buried the one-timer feed past Wolf to give Montreal a 2-1 lead.
A little later it looked like Gallagher had a second goal off a nice rush passing play, but the Flames challenged for off-side and the goal was nullified.
The Flames kept pushing and battling and managed to draw even with just shy of three minutes left in regulation. Mikael Backlund’s line battled in the Canadiens’ zone. Matt Coronato made a nice play, spinning off a defender and then using Blake Coleman (and a pair of Montreal skaters) as a screen as he drove to the slot and fired the puck past Montembeault to tie the game at 2-2.
Third period shots were 11-3 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 10-8 Flames (high-dangers were 4-2 Flames).
Overtime didn’t last long. Coronato grabbed the puck off a 50-50 puck battle on the opening draw, skated in and beat Montembeault glove-side to give the Flames a 3-2 victory.

Why the Flames won

This game was the 2024-25 Flames in all their glory. They were the better team at even strength. They got pretty good goaltending. But they made just enough mistakes on both sides of special teams to make this game dramatic. But they managed to dig in, and someone executed well with the puck at a key time to earn them the win.

Red Warrior

We’re gonna give two nods to two young players who looked great in this game.
Dustin Wolf was superb, especially early on, and he didn’t have much of a chance on either goal he allowed. But he was excellent when the Flames needed him to be. And Matt Coronato scored two big goals – the game-tying marker late in the third and the overtime winner – to really put his stamp on this contest.

Turning point

Coronato’s first goal, the one that sent this game to overtime, looked like the Coronato scouts fell in love with when he played with the Chicago Steel in the USHL. He used his shot and the other players on the ice to perfection in that situation, and it earned the Flames a point.

This and that

This was Coronato’s second two-goal game of the 2024-25 season (and his NHL career).
Justin Kirkland slotted into this game in place of Kevin Rooney. This was Kirkland’s 10th game of the season since clearing waivers in September, which makes him require waivers to be sent to the AHL going forward.
Anthony Mantha suffered a lower body injury in the first period and didn’t return to the game. Head coach Ryan Huska had no update on him following the game when speaking to the media (via Flames TV).

Up next

The Flames (7-5-1) continue their road trip on Thursday night when they face the Boston Bruins.