from Eric Francis of Sportsnet,

Matthew Tkachuk called it his “last resort.”

Twitterfolk anointed it the goal of the year, and one observer dubbed it the Music City Miracle.

Whatever it was that beat Pekka Rinne top shelf in the dying seconds of an improbable 6-5 overtime win over Nashville at Bridgestone Arena Thursday, there’s a feeling it may turn the fortunes of a flailing Flames club on a dime.

In a game that saw the Flames outshot 14-0 to start, trail 4-1 in the third and need a (second) game-tying goal with 39 seconds left, it was Tkachuk’s magic mitts that ended one of the team’s ugliest starts with the prettiest of goals.

As time seemed destined to expire on overtime, Tkachuk one-timed a rebound off a defender in the high slot with a between-the-legs buzzer beater that finished just under the bar.

“I try it, it seems, like once a game,” smiled Tkachuk of the leg-tweener job he certainly has attempted many times (once successfully) while net-side.

“I’m lucky it went in. I knew there was very little time on the clock, very little, like a couple seconds. Where the puck was, I couldn’t get my feet or my body around to keep it on my forehand, and I didn’t think I’d have the time to do that. I didn’t want to go ahead of it and try to backhand-smack it. So that was the last resort. It went in, which was nice.”

continued

Below, watch the goal and the game highlights.