Dougie Hamilton scores late winner, Flames hold on to beat Ducks 3-2

Ferland and Mark Giordano also scored for the Flames (21-16-4), while Mike Smith made 27 save to pick up his 17th win of the season.

“We’ve had the same mindset these last few games,” Ferland said. “We know how big these points are right now. We’ve just been playing simple hockey and waiting for our chances. I think it’s working for us right now.”

Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Getzlaf scored goals in the third for the Ducks (19-15-9), while goalie John Gibson finished with 28 saves.

“Any time you lose in the last couple seconds like that, it’s tough,” Silfverberg said. “You don’t come by these losses a lot, but obviously they sting you quite a bit.”

Giordano had a great chance to open the scoring 27 seconds into the first period when he one-timed a pass from Matthew Tkachuk on net, but Gibson kicked out his left pad to make the save.

Ferland gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 7:51 when he converted a feed from Johnny Gaudreau, who pounced on a turnover by Anaheim defenceman Brandon Montour to set up the goal.

Just 44 seconds later, Giordano’s point blast deflected off Kevin Bieksa and past a stunned Gibson to give Calgary a 2-0 lead.

“You’re lucky to win in the NHL if you don’t play 60 minutes,” said Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle. “We had terrible first period and it took us until the third period to really get our feet underneath us and get some emotion involved in the game.

“You can’t play this game waiting for things to happen. You have to be out there to create things and we didn’t do a very good job of that.”

Silfverberg nearly scored in the second period, but Smith got just enough of the shot by the Anaheim forward with his glove before the puck bounced off the post behind him.

After Calgary had a 17-8 advantage in shots in the first period, the Ducks turned things around a bit in the second, but weren’t able to score despite outshooting Calgary 11-7.

Silfverberg scored a short-handed goal 2:56 into the third when he skated into the Calgary zone and cut into the slot before slipping a shot through Smith’s legs.

Getzlaf pulled the Ducks even at 6:50 of the third when he took a pass from defenceman Hampus Lindholm in the high slot and blasted a slap shot into the top corner, blocker side behind Smith.

“We had our D go down the wall and got a little confusion there, obviously,” Getzlaf said. “I got to take a shot from the ladies tees. I hadn’t done that in a while, so it feels nice.”

Notes: Flames prospect Dillon Dube received a big cheer from the crowd at the Saddledome during a break in the first period when he was shown on the big screen with Canadian teammates Cale Makar and Jake Bean one night after they won gold at the world junior hockey championships in Buffalo, N.Y. … Ducks forward Ryan Kesler left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury and didn’t play in the second before returning to action in the third.

Laurence Heinen, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Dougie Hamilton scores late winner, Flames hold on to beat Ducks 3-2

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