CALGARY, Alberta — The Wild's latest meltdown wasn't as jaw-dropping as the previous one, but it stung more.
Wild squander early lead, end four-game winning streak in 5-3 loss to Flames
Minnesota was in prime position to extend its streak after taking a 2-0 lead through the first period, but Calgary answered with three second-period goals and reversed the momentum.
December 8, 2022 at 5:38AM
After recovering from a four-goal, third period collapse a game earlier at Dallas, the Wild didn't bounce back from blowing a two-goal lead to Calgary until late in the third period Wednesday but still fell 5-3 in front of 17,562 at Scotiabank Saddledome to end their season-high four-game winning streak with just their second loss over the past eight games.
"We gotta find a way when we're ahead to stay calm but still play with pace and still be aggressive out there," Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. "Gotta make a few saves, too, right? Help the guys out."
Only 12 seconds after Jon Merrill delivered the tying goal at 15:45 of the third period, his first of the season after a first-period assist, the Flames' Rasmus Andersson extinguished the Wild's rally when he cut to the inside and unleashed a backhander for his third point of the night.
"We obviously made some mistakes to give up that goal right away," coach Dean Evason said. "We'd like to get that puck the heck out of our zone right away."
Tyler Toffoli added an empty-netter with 1:10 left after he was instrumental in a Calgary comeback that erased an early, 2-0 Wild lead.
Just 1:27 after the opening faceoff, Kirill Kaprizov tipped in a Matt Dumba shot on a play that broke records and Kaprizov's stick, the blade sailing into the corner.
With his team-leading 17th goal, Kaprizov has the longest point streak (13 games) and goal streak (seven) in Wild history after nabbing the assist streak record earlier this season.
"To be honest, I don't really think about it," Kaprizov said in Russian through an interpreter. "I don't pay attention to that. Ultimately, it's a credit to my teammates, to all of the teammates I've played with. If it wasn't for them, none of this would be possible. So, thank you to them."
On the Wild's next shot only 58 seconds later, they doubled their advantage when Mason Shaw buried a 2-on-1 pass from linemate Connor Dewar to extend each player's point streak to a career-high three games. The two also set up Merrill's third-period goal.
"It's likely the best start that we've had," Evason said. "They weren't in the hockey game. We were engaged. We were rolling our lines."
But later in the first, signs of a Calgary resurgence surfaced.
The Wild committed three penalties the rest of the period and although they denied the Flames' power play during the first two chances, the third look carried over to the second and that's when Calgary's Nazem Kadri capitalized on a redirect 16 seconds into the period.
Just 1:21 after that, Blake Coleman scored the equalizer on an empty-net tap-in with Fleury at the top of the crease. A brief 1:34 later, the Flames cruised ahead on another tip in front on the power play — this time from Toffoli. Elias Lindholm picked up his second of three assists on the play; Andersson pocketed his second.
"It's frustrating because we have the momentum," Evason said. "Everything's going our way and for whatever reason, the game changes on four straight penalties."
Overall, the Flames were 2-for-6 with the man advantage, just the second time in the past eight games the Wild have surrendered multiple power-play goals.
As for their own power play, the Wild were unable to convert for the first time in seven games, nixing their season-best six-game run with a 0-for-4 showing.
"It's always tough when you're killing as much as we were tonight," Merrill said. "So we'll hope to stay out of the box a bit more."
The 39-year-old was a standout player at Grand Rapids and with the Gophers, and won a Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2009.
