The Calgary Flames seemed to be headed for another disappointing loss, until some bounces finally started going their way.
Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Tanguay scored late in the third period, and the Flames rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
''Every time we were skating into their zone we were either losing the puck or we weren't making the right plays. We weren't taking the good shots, but we stuck with it,'' Tanguay said. ''You don't want to say that there's luck involved in hockey, but we certainly got the right bounces at the right time.''
For the game's first 54 minutes, it appeared that Tom Gilbert's first-period goal would stand up as the winner.
Calgary pulled even after a spirited rush into the Oilers end by Lee Stempniak eventually resulted in the puck landing on the stick of Bouwmeester, who beat screened goalie Devan Dubnyk with a wrist shot at 14:03.
The Flames grabbed the lead 89 seconds later. Cory Sarich's shot from the blue line into a crowd bounced to the side of the net where Tanguay knocked in his first goal of the season.
''By no means was it pretty, but we'll take it,'' Tanguay said. ''Hopefully we can build a little bit of confidence from the last seven, eight minutes.''
As positive as those final moments were for the Flames, the Oilers were left with a bitter loss.
''That's why it's a 60-minute game. That's frustrating,'' Gilbert said. ''I know our second period wasn't the way we wanted but we came out, still with the one-goal lead and played well enough in the third to win that game. We have to bear down when it comes to crunch time with minutes ticking down in the third period.''
Calgary (2-3) has won nine straight at home against Edmonton and 13 of 14 from the Oilers overall. Edmonton (2-2-1) is now headed for its own four-game homestand.
''That game was ugly,'' said Oilers coach Tom Renney, shaking his head. ''It was tough sledding out there for both teams. It wasn't a work of art, that's for sure.''
Miikka Kiprusoff finished with 24 saves to improve to 2-2. He made a huge stop at the end of the game, sprawling to deny Anton Lander with his arm at the side of the net.
''A goalie is like a pitcher in baseball. If he plays well he's going to give you a chance to win, and Miikka certainly did that for us,'' Tanguay said.
Kiprusoff also came up huge at the end of the second period to keep the Flames within a goal. After firing just two shots in the period's first 18 minutes, the Oilers peppered Kiprusoff with four shots on a late power play.
''We had a lot of chances on that power play, and Kipper took a lot of shots and he was sharp, but you have to execute in these games for sure,'' Oilers forward Magnus Paajarvi said. ''When the games here are so tight as they are, it's really, really important. Unfortunately we didn't do that.''
The Oilers were thwarted on three third-period power plays, as well, to finish 1 for 6. The Flames were 0 for 3 with the extra man.
Dubnyk made 26 saves for Edmonton.
The Oilers played with seven defenseman because second-year forward Taylor Hall sat out with the flu.
Calgary got its season-high, six-game homestand off to an excellent start.
Edmonton scored the only goal of the first period by capitalizing on a power play, the result of an undisciplined penalty by Calgary's Tim Jackman, who cross-checked Cam Barker in a skirmish after the play.
It took only 27 seconds for the Oilers to connect, with Gilbert ripping a hard slap shot past Kiprusoff on the glove side from just inside the blue line.
Renney continued his early-season pattern of alternating goalies, going with the 25-year-old Dubnyk, who played his minor hockey in Calgary.
Dubnyk started the season opener and looked great turning aside 33 of 34 shots in a 2-1 shootout win over Pittsburgh. But in his second game, he surrendered four goals on 26 shots in a loss to Vancouver. He bounced back with a strong outing against Calgary.
''He was good for us,'' Renney said. ''He was square to the shooter. He knows what he's doing in there and he gave us a chance to get a point.''
NOTES: Linus Omark took Hall's spot on a line with rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle. ... RW Pierre-Luc Latourneau-Leblond made his Flames debut. Also returning was C Brendan Morrison, out since tearing a knee ligament in March. That bumped rookie C Roman Horak and LW Tom Kostopoulos out of the lineup. ... Calgary captain Jarome Iginla played in his 1,111th NHL game, moving him into a tie for 145th on the career list with Flames coach Brent Sutter and longtime Calgary player Lanny McDonald. ... Edmonton D Ryan Whitney (ankle) made his season debut.
