The Calgary Flames did not have a particularly great trip to Toronto on St. Patrick’s Day. They played reasonably well at five-on-five, but their special teams were not up to snuff and in the aggregate, they probably got the result they deserved by way of a 6-2 loss to the Buds.

However, the Flames followed that disappointing result in Toronto with a trio of games in the New York metro area, where they faced the New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders in succession. The Flames didn’t play three perfect periods of hockey on their road swing. But they did what they had to do in order to translate their hard work into three favourable results.

The Flames closed out their three game sweep of the three New York area clubs with a dramatic 4-3 overtime victory on Saturday.

Already without captain and two-way ace Mikael Backlund due to an injury, the Flames hit the warm-up ice without forward Joel Farabee due to illness, and soon lost MacKenzie Weegar’s services after it was determined that he couldn’t play due to a lower body injury. Without these players, seven different Flames logged north of 20 minutes of ice time: Rasmus Andersson (26:38), Nazem Kadri (23:23), Jonathan Huberdeau (23:09), Morgan Frost (22:45), Kevin Bahl (22:33), Matt Coronato (21:59) and Connor Zary (20:20).

It’s probably not a huge coincidence that the players the Flames leaned so heavily on were among their best. Andersson registered three assists. Kadri scored the overtime winner. Huberdeau had a goal and two assists. Bahl had an assist. Coronato scored two goals. When the Flames needed their key guys to be their best players, they delivered.

“That’s what we needed today,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “We’re a few guys down for different reasons. So you need a gritty team effort and I thought we got that today.”

While the Flames have shown a bit of impatience in overtime at points of this season, on Saturday they were downright patient and tactical. They held the puck on their sticks for the vast majority of extra time, and that patience eventually led to the game-winner.

“Yeah, I think that’s the way overtime’s gone over the last little while,” said Huska. “When you do have possession, you don’t want to give it up. So if your opportunity that you’re creating isn’t good enough, you don’t want to give the puck up. Because usually when you do, you don’t get it back. So I think our guys have done a better job as of late in overtime instead of forcing things.”

The victory gives the Flames six of a possible eight points over their four game road trip – and six of a possible six against the New York area teams. It also nudges them north of the .500 mark on the road, and gives them much-needed life in the Western Conference playoff race. After the disappointing result in Toronto, the group remains buoyed by their belief in their group.

“Well, it’s just the faith that we have all year,” said Vladar, who improved his record on the season to 10-11-6. “It’s probably not a lot of people believed in us at the beginning of season, but I think we are super tight group since the since the first game of the season and we are showing it on the ice when it matters the most in those moments. So, yeah, super proud of this group, but we just got to keep going.”

“I’m really pleased with the way the guys played on this road trip,” said Huska. “Now it’s going home and making sure we’re going to keep the momentum going.”

The Flames return to action on Tuesday night at home when they host the Seattle Kraken.

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.