Calgary Flames stay hot, spoil Minnesota Wild's playoff push with 4-2 win

The Minnesota Wild had an opportunity to punch their playoff ticket Friday night — but the Calgary Flames had other ideas. Fuelled by goals from Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund, Ryan Lomberg, and Yegor Sharangovich, the Flames cruised to a 4-2 victory at Scotiabank Saddledome, closing the Western Conference playoff gap. With the victory, Calgary (38-27-14) drew within three points of the Wild and the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card berth. And better yet for the Flames — they have a game in hand on both teams. It's a well-timed push, as the Flames have now recorded points in five consecutive (3-0-2) and seven of eight (4-1-3). "It only matters if we keep it going, but it’s important for our group to be in these meaningful games this time of year and to find a way to win them," Ryan Lomberg said. "I thought tonight was probably one of our best, most complete games. And that says a lot about our group. It doesn’t mean much if we can’t do it again, but we have the confidence within each other to keep going.” Dustin Wolf stopped 16 shots for Calgary, posting his 10th victory of the season. Minnesota mounted a late charge, but the Flames never led otherwise. The scoring got underway late in the first period when Mikael Backlund buried a rebound off a sharp-angle shot by Blake Coleman following a Wild clearing attempt that went awry. That goal placed Backlund in a tie with Al MacInnis (213) for seventh place on Calgary's all-time scoring list. In the second, Yegor Sharangovich made it 2-0 with a deft tip-in off a Martin Pospisil rush. The Flames kept pressing, and Nazem Kadri added a power-play goal from the top of the right circle less than two minutes later. Matt Coronato picked up the primary assist on Kadri’s tally, extending his point streak to four games despite seeing his three-game goal streak come to an end. The Wild generated some late life with two goals in the last five minutes. Yakov Trenin scored to get Minnesota on the board when he took advantage of a turnover and scored past Wolf on a breakaway. Gustav Nyquist then added a slot goal with 1:30 to go, and Fleury was pulled for an extra attacker. It was too little, too late, however, for the Minnesota Wild (43-30-7), who have now lost five of their last seven. Also read: John Tortorella’s Potential Next Chapters: Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, Nashville