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Canucks spoil Flames’ home opener with comeback win

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The Northwest Division is no more, but some traditions die hard, like the Vancouver Canucks ruining the Calgary Flames’ good times.

It happened again on Sunday night, as the Canucks overcame a 3-1 lead in the third period to eventually go up 4-3. The Flames showed some serious fight when David Jones tied it up on a messy goal with 19 seconds left, but that just allowed the Canucks to play spoiler again, with Mike Santorelli scoring the OT-winner.

Silver linings for Flames

Flames fans could very well view this as a game that got away. That seemed especially true through two periods, as they were only up 2-1 despite a 26-14 shot disparity.

If nothing else, Calgary is showing more fight than people expected. They’re a reasonable 1-0-2 and have kept things basically even, scoring 12 goals and allowing 13.

Still, coughing up leads like these will sting, especially since they lost to the Washington Capitals 5-4 (SO) after building a 4-1 lead on Thursday.

One can imagine that head coach Bob Hartley will mix some optimism with an overarching message that the Flames need to learn how to play with leads, then.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins