Johnny Gaudreau sent Flames into battle for Alberta

Gaudreau flashed a red light and gave the Flames the win when his shot from a tight angle late in the first period of overtime hit the shoulder of the sensational young goaltender.

The Flames will face their Alberta rivals, the Edmonton Oilers, in the Western Conference Semifinals.

The two teams have not crossed the sword since the 1990-1991 season. The series will begin Wednesday night in Calgary.

Certainly formed in the series, Oettinger became imperial in Game 7 and stopped 61 shots, but it wasn’t enough to allow the Stars to advance to the second round. The 23-year-old American finished the series with 13 goals against and a save percentage of 0.954%.

Jacob Markstrom was great in front of the Flames goal. He stopped 26 shots in the win. The Vézina Trophy contender allowed just 11 goals in seven games.

However, the Stars got off to an explosive start. Just 40 seconds after the opening face-off, Jamie Benn scored the first shot of the game to put the visitors ahead.

Locals equaled the mark at the start of the middle period. Tyler Toffoli deflected Oliver Kylington’s point shot and recorded his first goal of the series.

Thirty -one seconds later, the Stars regained the lead. Joe Pavelski made a nice handover to Vladislav Namestnikov who shot at the reception. Pass his shot on Markstrom’s pads.

Minutes later, Markstrom launched Gaudreau into the offensive zone with a long pass. The latter gave the puck to Matthew Tkachuk who finally scored his first goal in the series with an accurate shot to the top of the net. Tkachuk has 42 goals and 104 points in the regular season.

Despite their significantly lower shot count, the Stars will soon score again in regulation time. Jason Robertson and Miro Heiskanen headed straight to the post.

In the middle of the first overtime, Blake Coleman thought he would offer the Flames their second-round bye when his shot beat Oettinger, but Oettinger went to the post.