Although they had some more late heroics, the Boston Bruins couldn't extend their season-high winning streak when they faced one of the NHL's worst teams.
They'll see another one of the league's bottom feeders Friday night, but the Calgary Flames are in pursuit of their longest home win streak in three seasons.
Boston had won five in a row until a 3-2 shootout loss to Edmonton on Wednesday in the opener of a three-game trip through Western Canada. Zdeno Chara scored the tying goal with 3:21 left in regulation, but the Bruins went 0 for 3 in the shootout.
"It's disappointing but we still have a chance to get five out of six points on the road," forward David Krejci said. "We've just got to be ready for the next game."
Boston's win streak nearly ended in each of the previous three games, beginning with a 4-3 shootout victory in Toronto on Nov. 23. Colin Miller had the tying score with 1:44 to go in regulation in a 3-2 overtime win at Detroit two days later, and the Bruins (13-8-2) scored two goals in the final four minutes of a 4-3 victory against the New York Rangers last Friday.
"I don't think you want to make that a habit. You're down one goal, and then all of a sudden, you just start playing like you should have been right off the bat," goaltender Tuukka Rask told the team's official website. "That's been the case a few times, here, and I think we have to fix that."
Boston owns one of the Eastern Conference's best road records at 8-2-1 but will have to snap Calgary's five-game home win streak to add to that.
The Flames (9-14-2) rallied for a 4-3 shootout win against Dallas to open a five-game homestand Tuesday and snap a string of three consecutive defeats. Calgary scored three times in the third period, and former Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton had the tying goal with 2:18 left in regulation.
"It's about the momentum," coach Bob Hartley said Wednesday. "You win, you need to keep building and keep working. Last night we played and got two points and now our focus is on Boston."
Calgary will seek its first six-game home win streak since taking eight in a row Feb. 23-March 27, 2013. The Flames swept last season's two matchups with Boston and avoided a third consecutive home loss in the series with a 4-3 overtime victory Feb. 16.
They also rallied from a 3-0 deficit in that game with Jiri Hudler scoring twice in the third period and T.J. Brodie netting the winning goal. It was among Calgary's franchise-record 10 third-period comebacks in 2014-15 that helped it reach the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.
The Flames are currently tied for last place in the West with Edmonton.
"I still think there's that winning attitude in here and that sense we know what we have in this room and we can have the same kind of success and even more so than we had last year," forward Brandon Bollig told the team's official website.
Hamilton will face his former team for the first time since a draft-day trade that netted Boston a first-round pick and two second rounders. He paced all Bruins blueliners with 42 points last season and tied for the team lead with 32 assists.
Hudler had three goals and one assist in last season's series, but has one assist in his last five games. Chara has four goals and four assists in his past seven matchups with Calgary.
