It was a night of nervous excitement at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday night as the Calgary Flames hosted the Dallas Stars in Game 5 of their first-round matchup in the Stanley Cup Playoffs..The series was knotted at two games apiece after an extremely low scoring and tight checking series. After sitting at sixth in goals scored during the regular season, the Flames had only scored seven goals in their previous four games..After a rather tame and scoreless first period, anxiety levels were high among more than 19,000 fans in the ’Dome and thousands outside in the Red Lot. Tensions rose further after the Dallas Stars’ 22-year-old sniper Jason Robertson gave his team a 1-0 lead with 6:39 remaining in the second period..Flames fans watched their team struggle in the playoffs in recent years, and the memories of disappointment are all too fresh in their minds..As the third period started, the stress was apparent among Flames loyalists. The Flames were once again struggling to produce offence despite head coach Darryl Sutter mixing up the forward lines. Blake Coleman and Tyler Toffoli took turns on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Elias Lindholm, replacing regular first line right winger Matthew Tkachuk. .Finally, they struck. At 6:49 into the third period, Mikael Backlund scored after redirecting a perfect pass from Andrew Mangiapane into an open net. The C of Red came to life again. .Just under four minutes later, Andrew Mangiapane ripped a wrist shot off the post and into the net, over the glove of tricky Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger..Elation! The home crowd was fully back in the game..After killing off a penalty with only 6:40 remaining, the Flames were finally able to put the game away with an empty net goal by Trevor Lewis with 58 seconds remaining.. Calgary Flames WinCalgary Flames win - game 5 of round 1 .On Wednesday night the Flames found a way to win. There is no doubt the team has bought into Sutter’s commitment to solid defensive hockey, but can they find ways to produce offence going forward?.The Flames are now one win away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs — something they have not done in seven years..Game 6 will be back in Dallas on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. MST.
