The New Jersey Devils are a really good team. They might not be as good as their record, but they’re a formidable opponent that combines speed and skill into a nice package. They gave the Calgary Flames a scare on Sunday night at the Saddledome, coming back twice after giving up a pair of early leads of their own and forcing overtime with a few bad-angle goals. The Flames overcame the Devils onslaught en route to a 5-4 shootout victory.

As a result of this win, the Flames are finally back at .500 at home (and are two games above .500 overall).

New Jersey came as advertised. They had their speed and tenacity on full display throughout the first period. Just 94 seconds in, they opened the scoring; Nico Hischier beat Mark Giordano with a nice burst of speed and Mike Smith stopped his initial shot, but the rebound went right to Taylor Hall for a tap-in and a 1-0 Devils lead. But the Flames answered back on the penalty kill. Mikael Backlund chased down a Michael Frolik clearing pass, then shuffled the puck in the Devils zone to Frolik for the goal and a 1-1 tie.

Micheal Ferland got a penalty shot later in the period off a nice feed from Johnny Gaudreau, but he couldn’t score. Shots were 16-9 New Jersey, while scoring chances were 9-6 for the visitors.

The Flames were better in the second period, but they had to claw back from behind after another early Devils goal. This one was basically a carbon copy of the first goal: a high shot from Hischier was saved by Smith, but the rebound went right to Ben Lovejoy for a tap-in and a 2-1 Devils lead. But once again, the Flames clawed back off a nice puck retrieval sequence. Brett Kulak dumped the puck into the Devils zone and went for a change, leaving the forwards to chase down the puck. Kris Versteeg and Frolik won a puck battle in the corner and sent the puck to the point for a Michael Stone point shot through traffic (Matt Stajan had Kinkaid preoccupied) and a 2-2 tie.

The home side briefly took the lead in the second off another nice puck battle sequence. The Devils tried to clear their zone but the top line held the puck in. A couple quick passes later saw Micheal Ferland find Sean Monahan in the high slot and one wrister later it was 3-2 Flames.

That lead lasted 10 seconds, as a Devils dump-in got Smith out of his net to play the puck. The puck rimmed around to Brian Gibbons on the side wall and Smith didn’t have enough time to set himself for the shot and was beat high to tie the game at 3-3. The Flames had a few chances later on, but couldn’t bury them. Shots were 14-7 Flames and scoring chances were 16-6 Flames.

The Flames took a lead seven minutes into the third off a nice passing sequence from their top line. Monahan walked into the Devils zone and dished off to Gaudreau, who momentarily bobbled the pass but recovered and fed Ferland, who walked in and went top corner on Kinkaid to make it 4-3.

But the lead did not last. Midway through the period, Andy Greene beat Smith with a high wrist shot from the half-boards to make it 4-4. Miles Wood had a subsequent penalty shot, but couldn’t beat Smith. Shots were 9-5 Flames in the third and scoring chances were 7-4 for the home side.

For the second game in a row, they needed additional time to determine a winner. Overtime solved nothing, though both sides missed many, many shots. They went to the shootout, where Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Flames – Drew Stafford scored for the Devils – to cement a 5-4 shootout victory.

Tkachuk’s goal was pretty nice.

The locals won because they stuck with their game-plan. They were down twice and clawed back, and then blew leads twice but kept coming at the Devils. And on a night where their goaltender was a mere mortal, they for once provided him with enough run support to get two points.

They also won the special teams battle, which is always a recipe for success.

Let’s go with Stone, who went from the third pairing to third on the entire team in ice time. He had a very nice goal, six shots on goal, nine Corsi events and was generally making things happen. It might not happen every night, but the Flames were looking for somebody to step up with Mark Giordano having a rare sub-par game and Travis Hamonic on the shelf.

Midway through the third, with the game tied at 3, Smith made a dandy rebound save on Hischier. He’d already allowed two goals off rebounds off high initial shots and it’s possible that this one would’ve tilted the game. The Flames took the lead a few minutes later. They probably wouldn’t have done that if Hischier buried this one.

The Sarnia Sting lost 4-3 to Ottawa. Flames pick Adam Ruzicka had “only” one goal, that slacker.

“We’ve been doing a good job of holding the pucks in and that, we just haven’t gotten rewarded for it. Tonight we did. What I noticed tonight is a lot of chances from low to high, and D shots, redirecting and guys in front of the net. A more concerted effort to be there. We’ve been working and hammering that point home and tonight we were rewarded for it.” – Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan on the types of scoring chances his team is generating of late.

“They’re fast, really fast. I felt like they were good at reading plays and picking up passes. They did that all night. They got in lanes and picked off a bunch of our passes, so there’s a reason why… You don’t go 9-3 or 9-4 or whatever they are now, without being a solid team to start.” – Flames captain Mark Giordano on dealing with the Devils’ speed.

The Flames (8-6-0) practice tomorrow and get ready to entertain the Vancouver Canucks at the Saddledome on Tuesday night. Good news, though: the Canucks will be playing their second game in as many nights.