Minnesota Wild crash against Calgary Flames, shunt their playoff prospects into shaky territory

CALGARY, Alberta – Much like getting this far, after all the injuries and inconsistency, finalizing a playoff berth isn’t easy for the Wild.

They blew a chance to clinch Friday night by getting dumped 4-2 by the Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome to continue the three-team race for the two wild cards in the Western Conference.

“Highly competitive game,” coach John Hynes said, “and we were the second-most competitive team on the ice.”

Calgary kept the Wild and St. Louis in play, the Flames now only three points back of both with three games to go.

If the Wild win Saturday at Vancouver and the Blues lose in regulation that night, they’ll solidify a spot.

“Not a great response in this situation, and it’s frustrating,” Marcus Foligno said. “They definitely had a better jump than us.”

The Flames couldn’t be eliminated by the Wild, what with the Blues also in the mix, but they played like their season was on the line: They dominated the Wild, goalie Dustin Wolf needing to make a paltry 16 saves.

After an aggressive and authoritative start for Calgary that included a board-rumbling hit by Brayden Pachal on Vinnie Hinostroza, who subbed into the Wild lineup for Justin Brazeau, the Flames’ urgency culminated in the first lead when Mikael Backlund buried a rebound by goaltender Filip Gustavsson with 3 minutes, 35 seconds left in the opening period.

Before the goal, Gustavsson left his net to retrieve a dump-in and instead of playing the puck on his forehand to Jonas Brodin, as Brock Faber was motioning for, Gustavsson sent a backhander in Faber’s direction that eluded Faber. Calgary gained possession and sent the puck on net, where Backlund was ready for the put-back.

Minutes earlier, Gustavsson swiped a carom off the goal line with his stick after the puck pinballed off traffic in front.

Not only did Calgary have more and better chances than the Wild, but the Flames defense prevented the Wild from generating steady pressure; their closest call in the first was a tip by Marco Rossi off the post on the shift after Backlund’s tally.

“They pinned us in a lot of times,” Mats Zuccarello said. “We didn’t play connected. Why? I don’t have the answer to right now, but at the end of the day, it’s not good enough.”

That disparity carried over into the second period.

At 5:31, Yegor Sharangovich redirected in a headman pass off the rush, and then Nazem Kadri scored against a screened Gustavsson on the first of two Calgary power plays just 1:52 later.

“Just quicker decisionmaking was needed,” Foligno said, “and I thought they had it, and we didn’t.”

By then, the Wild were without captain Jared Spurgeon, who left after skating only one shift in the second period before resurfacing for the third and then leaving again.

“He got a puck in the throat area, and I think it’s just always scary,” Foligno said. “I think he was kinda getting a little lightheaded, so it’s something that we hope that he’s fine for tomorrow.”

Hynes didn’t have an update on Spurgeon but mentioned Spurgeon is OK.

The Flames’ Sharangovich could tell it was a serious situation but couldn’t understand what Spurgeon was trying to say.

“I thinks it’s my English,” said Sharangovich, who felt bad because “I should help him.

“He [held] me, and the referee helped him after.”

Sharangovich asked what happened and was told Spurgeon “lost his breath.”

This was the second game back from lengthy injuries for Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek, their return in an 8-7 free-for-all against the Sharks on Wednesday the light at the end of the tunnel the Wild were eyeing as they were hobbled by injuries in the second half and slid down the standings during a dry spell for their offense.

But even as they get closer to full strength — Jake Middleton was the only player sidelined by injury before Spurgeon’s exit and Middleton is a possibility to draw in vs. the Canucks — the Wild aren’t guaranteed a new lease on life.

“San Jose game was a little bit of a pond hockey game for us, and then tonight we were the second-most-competitive team on the ice. That’s not really who we are and what we’ve been, but we’ve got to make sure that that’s gonna be different tomorrow night,” said Hynes, who shared the same message with Wild players postgame.

BOXSCORE: Flames 4, Wild 2

NHL standings

The Wild botched two power plays in the second period, including an abbreviated 5-on-3, and finished with just two shots.

Hinostroza and Eriksson Ek also put shots off the post, the Wild never building up enough momentum to kickstart a rally and ward off a season sweep for Calgary, which capitalized again on a breakaway 7:20 into the third period for Ryan Lomberg after he picked the puck off Marcus Johansson at the Flames’ blue line.

Gustavsson was replaced by Marc-Andre Fleury after that, posting 25 saves, and Gustavsson will be back in net Saturday in Vancouver.

“I didn’t calm him down,” said Hynes, who was spotted chatting with Gustavsson after the switch. “I just told him what my rationale was for doing it and make sure, just communicating with him.

“He wasn’t upset about anything. It was just making sure that he understood what the circumstance was and why we made the decision and get ready for tomorrow.”

Fleury had three stops in relief. Wolf’s shutout was spoiled by a Yakov Trenin breakaway at 15:39 before Gustav Nyquist connected on a one-timer with 1:30 remaining.

“I don’t think we as a team performed to the level that we expect to in a game like this,” Zuccarello said. “It’s disappointing, for sure.”

The Wild are still in control.

They don’t need help advancing, but that could change if they don’t respond Saturday.

“It’s this time of year where it goes quick and you have to forget about it quick, talk about it tomorrow, probably show some video and get back at it,“ Zuccarello said. ”We gotta win a hockey game.”