The Montreal Alouettes were trying to keep a perfect record in six road games this season.
The Calgary Stampeders wanted to get back to winning ways after four straight losses.
In the end, neither side found any real satisfaction on Saturday.
The Alouettes and Stampeders tied 19-19 after overtime.
“I think it was one of the weirdest games I’ve played in my entire career. First tie of my career,” Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo said.
“There are worse situations. We could have lost the game. Getting a point is better than nothing.”
The score was sealed by a 37-yard field goal from Jose Maltos of the Montreal clan, during the final right of the reply.
For the Alouettes (10-2-1), it was a first draw since September 1998 in Hamilton, where the verdict was 31-31.
Regulation time ended 13-13 after a 42-yard field goal by Maltos with one second left.
In overtime, Maltos first scored from 30 yards.
In the first right of reply, Rene Paredes made a 42-yard field goal.
Paredes repeated from the same distance, then Maltos added an equaliser.
Fajardo completed 19 of 26 passes for 204 yards.
Walter Fletcher rushed for 90 yards and Kaion Julien Grant had 71 receiving yards.
Jake Maier of the Stampeders (4-8-1) completed 29 of 37 passes for 236 yards, with a touchdown pass.
“There are a lot of things to be happy about despite the draw, but 19 (points) are probably not enough to win,” Maier admitted.
“We need to increase that number by one or two more hits if we want better results.”
Dedrick Mills was impactful with 122 yards rushing, while Marken Michel had 73 yards on six catches.
The Montreal team was playing the first of three consecutive matches abroad.
The next step will be to measure themselves against the Rouge et Noir, next Saturday.
The Alouettes will not play again in Montreal until October 14, against Ottawa.
The Stampeders will be at home again Friday night, against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Stampeders are in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2004.
So a single point was little consolation for head coach and general manager Dave Dickenson.
“We haven’t won in a while,” Dickenson said. “It’s hard for our guys to feel good about that. There were a couple of times I felt like we could have put the game out of their hands.”
Paredes made it 13-7 Stampeders with a 16-yard field goal with 3:11 left in the third quarter.
Before the end of the quarter, Maltos kept the Alouettes in the game with a 53-yard field goal, a personal best.
Early in the fourth quarter, an offensive line penalty derailed the crowd favorites’ momentum, turning a second-and-short into a second-and-11.
Paredes attempted a 51-yard field goal, but the ball hit the post to his left.
It was only the second time the 39-year-old veteran had failed to do so this season in 35 attempts.
Jason Maas’s team failed to capitalise, having to clear during the climb that followed.
The half ended with Calgary in control, 10-7.
Michel gave the Stampeders the lead with an 18-yard touchdown catch five minutes into the game.
Two minutes later, Paredes added a 14-yard field goal on a James Letcher fumble.
In the second quarter, Fletcher got the Birds going with a 55-yard run to the edge of the end zone.
Fajardo then ran the ball in for two yards for a touchdown.
Earlier in the second quarter, it was thought that Sean Thomas Erlington of the Alouettes had scored six points by going into the end zone after blocking a punt, very close to the end zone.
The referees, however, cancelled the sequence by awarding a penalty for roughing the kicker.
It took until 3:10 left in the first quarter for Montreal to get a first try, via a run by Tyler Snead.
The visitors’ first three climbs ended in turnovers or clearances.
With the collaboration of Donna Spencer
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