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Kris Russell #4 of the Calgary Flames celebrates with Dennis Wideman #6 after scoring what proved to be the game winning goal against the Vancouver Canucks in Game One of the Western Conference Quarterfinals during the 2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Arena on April, 15, 2015 in Vancouver.Rich Lam/Getty Images

The lead felt tenuous – as any lead does against the Cardiac Kids.

The Vancouver Canucks, who had not won a playoff game in three years, held a 1-0 advantage going into the third period Wednesday night against the Calgary Flames. Vancouver had controlled play, and a Game 1 victory was in sight.

There were a pile of chances to extend the lead and secure victory early in the third. Vancouver peppered pucks at Calgary goaltender Jonas Hiller. But it was the Flames who ratcheted back, a team that has defied odds all season and garnered a reputation for unlikely heroics.

Calgary tied it with 12 minutes left – and it was then the ice firmly tilted against Vancouver, the young Flames feverish, pounding at the Canucks. The final stake came with 30 seconds left in regulation, a Kris Russell slap shot, the culmination of a relentless press from the Flames as the clock ticked towards zero, the Canucks pinned in their own end.

The 2-1 win was the first Calgary postseason victory in six years.

"It's a great, great confidence we have," said Hiller after the game. Calgary coach Bob Hartley, who earlier this season dubbed his squad the Cardiac Kids for their many comebacks, said: "It seems like nothing rattles us."

On a night where it was an exhibition of the young, it was 33-year-old Hiller who was the difference, especially in the third. Hiller has been one of the league's top goaltenders in the past several months.

The intensely fought contest, pivoting on small margins, adds more promise to a possibility of a lengthy, perhaps epic, series. It would echo past postseason meetings of these two teams, going to Game 7 overtimes each of the last three times the Flames and Canucks have met in the playoffs.

"We played well for 50 minutes," said Vancouver's Daniel Sedin. It was a mantra he repeated as a series of reporters sought his comment. The Canucks would wake on Thursday to review film, figure out how it went wrong. "We expected this to be a long series."

Calgary seized its chance after a several miscues in the third by Vancouver led a David Jones goal with 12 minutes left in regulation, assisted by Michael Ferland. The sense of a major missed opportunity on the part of Vancouver, with all their chances, was palpable. The feeling of what-might-have-been exponentially worsened when Russell hammered home the winner.

A tenor of youth marked the contest from the start. Calgary's roster is full of players in the postseason for the first time and while Vancouver had only three such names, they are key elements: goalie Eddie Lack, who played well; Bo Horvat, who turned 20 in early April and was the first teenager to play for Vancouver in a decade; and Ronalds Kenins, who was a physical force.

Calgary's Sam Bennett, the No. 4 pick in last summer's draft who played his first NHL game on the weekend, was an immediate presence in the game and throughout. He provided the second assist on the winning goal. Bennett, 18 years old from Holland Landing north of Toronto, spent most of the season in convalescence from shoulder surgery before 15 major junior games in the OHL. He looked, in his NHL playoffs debut, as though he had been on such a stage many times before. Teammates before the contest had counselled him to have fun.

"That's what I did," said Bennett. "I went out there and had fun."

Horvat was likewise pivotal for Vancouver and in the middle of the second, the game in a scoreless vice-grip, cracked open the contest.

Taking a pass from the corner, Horvat fired a shot, which was, along with so many Cancuks's efforts, blocked. Horvat collected the rebound and shovelled the puck back towards the Calgary net on his backhand. It caromed off Calgary defenceman Dennis Wideman's skate and slid by Hiller.

But for Horvat, the loss was especially bitter, Horvat one of the Canucks on the ice for the extended stretch in which they could not clear their zone before Calgary banged home the deciding goal. "We've got to be stronger in our own end," said Horvat.

Wednesday was, in many ways, a typical Flames-Canucks contest. The teams played each other closely this season – splitting their four games – and in each outing the Canucks had led in puck possession. On Wednesday, the Canucks led in puck possession through much of the night, and opened up a big gap in the early third, but puck possession at even-strength ended tied at the buzzer. In the crucial final 12 minutes, Calgary had double the shot attempts of Vancouver, 14-7.

Just as Daniel Sedin said, the Canucks faded in the final 10 minutes, playing 50, not 60. "That's not," said Sedin, "good enough in a game like this."

Before the game, midday, Sean Monahan, the Flames 20-year-old first-line centre, had been asked how long the series would go. The questioner clearly thought the answer would be along the lines of a long, fiercely fought series. "Hopefully four games," Monahan quipped. He had, several minutes before the winning goal, a shot that nearly won it himself.

Vancouver, this season, had been near perfect when leading after two period, winning 30 of 34. Calgary, however, has been remarkable when trailing after two, coming back to win nearly one-third of the time, 10 of 34 games.

An important factor was the number of shots blocked by the Flames, who were second in the league in the category this season. Midway through the game, Calgary had blocked more shots than Vancouver had got on the net. In the final count, Vancouver had 30 shots on goal, and 20 blocked.

"Get them off a little quicker," said Vancouver's Jannik Hansen after the game of the solution.

The atmosphere in the building was raucous – but the series has not widely resonated in Vancouver, after missing last year's playoffs. The gold standard of the recent past, a champion contender, is gone, and in its absence there isn't pulsating citywide passion. The Canucks announced the game as a sold out – 18,870 – but 12 hours before the puck dropped, tickets were still available. And if the series goes long, as previous Flames-Canucks playoff contests have, at least some tickets for Game 5 and 7 in Vancouver are still available at face value or below.

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