VANCOUVER — The Calgary Flames looked like they had been there before. Unfortunately, so did the Vancouver Canucks.
After slightly outplaying the Flames for most of the game, the Canucks surrendered two goals in the final 12 minutes to lose their National Hockey League playoff-opener 2-1 to Calgary at Rogers Arena.
All resilience and youthful nerves, the Flames made it to the Stanley Cup tournament because of their ability to escalate their play in the final period of regulation time. At 10-20-4 this season when trailing after 40 minutes, the Flames were second in the NHL in third-period points and third in victories.