Flames finish Canucks in Round One of NHL Playoffs

Calgary Flames Johnny Gaudreau celebrates his goal during second period NHL first round game six playoff hockey action against the Vancouver Canucks in Calgary, Saturday, April 25, 2015. (Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The Calgary Flames defeated the Vancouver Canucks in a Game 6 battle to the final minute in front of a sea of red fans at the Saddledome on Saturday night.

The Canucks' Brandon McMillan opened up the scoring with a goal on the rebound at 2:36.

It was his first goal in 31 games and it started a wave of pressure that would see Vancouver get two more goals before the end of the period.

Jannik Hansen made it 2-0 for the Canucks at the end of a penalty kill at 7:32 and the Flames pulled Jonas Hiller and replaced him with Karri Ramo.

The Canucks were eager to test Ramo early and their efforts paid off on the powerplay at 9:42 with a goal from Radim Vrbata, and it was a 3-0 game.

Flames finally got on the board and reignited the fans when Michael Ferland put in his first playoff goal on a pass from Stajan and Jones, and it was 3-1 after one.

The Flames have come back from 3 goal deficits to win before and just one minute into the second, Sean Monahan pinched into the net and picked up a rebound to close the gap to 3-2.

The Canucks responded and increased the pressure in the crease in front of Ramo who had to come up with some big saves to keep the Flames in it.

Johnny Gaudreau evened things up at 5:35 with a shot off a dump in to the zone and it was tied at 3.

The Canucks regained the lead before the end of the period on a shot through traffic from Luca Sbisa that got by Ramo and it was 4-3 heading into the third.

The Flames top line evened up the score again six minutes into the third as Jiri Hudler found the back of the Canucks net with a low shot on a pass from Monahan and the game was tied 4-4.

Matt Stajan gave the Flames the lead for the first time in the game with just over four minutes left making it 5-4.

Vancouver applied pressure in the final minutes, pulling the goalie, but were not able to avoid elimination.

Monahan passed it across to Jiri Hudler at 19:31 for the empty netter and the Saddledome erupted, 6-4 Flames.

But it wasnt over yet, Michael Ferland took advantage of the empty goal to put one more in with two seconds left and the final was 7-4.

The Flames won the best of seven series 4 games to 2 and are heading to the Second Round of the NHL Playoffs for the first time since 2004 and will take on Ahaheim.