from Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail,

In time, the disappointment of how it ended – with a gutting 3-2 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks – will be mitigated by the unexpectedly successful season they had. But that knowledge did nothing in the short term to temper the disappointment they were feeling in the Calgary Flames’ dressing room Sunday night, when their remarkable, unexpected run to the second round of the NHL playoffs came to an abrupt end in Death Valley, aka the Honda Center.

The Ducks, who’d dominated the Flames at home for the better part of a decade, found a way of pulling one out of the fire Sunday.

Unlike the first two games in the series, which Anaheim dominated and won by a cumulative 9-1 margin, the Flames gave them a much harder time of it in Game 5.

Calgary never trailed in the game until Corey Perry scored 2:26 into overtime to give the Ducks another in a season-long string of come-from-behind victories. Anaheim dominated the overtime, but it wasn’t until Perry banged in a loose puck from the crease, after surviving a scary moment earlier in the game, that the Ducks finally put the Flames away.

“It’s sad that our season is over,” said Flames’ coach Bob Hartley, “but the boys battled hard. There are lots of long faces in this locker room. They wanted to keep going. I’m very proud of our group. Tonight, is not a good night. It’s a tough loss to swallow, but at the same time, we knew that with a young team, we had to take some lessons – and tonight is a tough one.

“Looking at the season, looking at the playoffs, the Ducks stepped it up and in the third period and in OT, we had no answers for them.”

continued

Below, watch the Perry OT goal, handshakes, etc...