After going to about halfway through the 3rd with a 2 goal lead, Flames conceded 3 straight to fall behind inside the last 5 minutes. A late Bradley Lalonde reply salvaged a point before Cardiff Devils secured a 4-3 win on penalties.
Flames took the advantage in the 7th minute through Ryan Tait and they were able to hang on to the difference through the opening set.
Spot on the 25 minute mark, Peter Crinella nudged the home side a little further in front with the only goal of the 2nd.
Just over halfway through the final set, Cardiff got themselves on the board when Joey Martin cut their deficit in half. An immediately ensuing penalty to Kyle Locke put Devils right onto the powerplay and they made that one count with Martin’s 2nd to level it a little under 8 minutes from time. Inside the last 5 minutes, Evan Mosey put them in front before Lalonde forced overtime at 57:02.
Flames were unable to deliver on a 4th period 4 on 3 powerplay and overtime closed still locked on 3 goals each.
In penalties, a goal each in the 5 shot round forced sudden death tiebreakers where Colly Ully bagged the winner after a Brett Ferguson miss.
"We are all very frustrated and it probably is worse when we look back on what we feel was a pretty good game by us for most of the evening," said Paul Dixon.
"That 2 goal lead appeared and disappeared once again and that adds to our dismay. We did a lot of good things tonight and we have to look at some of that to try and keep our spirits high as we go to Cardiff on our next trip."
"At least we got a point tonight, but we all want wins and we all know that we have to find a way to start turning some of those in again, and that is where our heads will be this week leading up to Friday night."
