With the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames playing leapfrog this week, the Flames needed a win to keep the game alive and managed a 5-2 win over the visiting Los Angeles Kings Sunday night.
Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan each had a goal and two points in the win, the 
12th in the last 13 games for the Flames.
Calgary is now a point up on the Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division.
“We’re putting ourselves in a great spot here the way we’ve been playing this past month,” Gaudreau said. “We know how important these last two weeks here, and the opponents we play are pretty good teams.”
Brian Elliott has now won 11 straight games and made 19 saves to help the Flames win.
“I think any time you’re mentioned in the same sentence as a guy like Mike Vernon it’s an accomplishment,” Elliott said. “It’s pretty cool to be able to have done that, but for right now it’s the two points we got and they didn’t.”
Michael Stone, Mark Giordano and Kris Versteeg also struck for Calgary goals.
“You can’t sit back in games like this and wait for something to happen,” Monahan said. “We got it started there, got the ball rolling, and when you do that and continue to do that for the full 60 (minutes), you usually get results.”
Anze Kopitar and Nic Dowd were the Kings’ goal scorers.
WATCH: All Kings vs. Flames highlights
Ben Bishop made 14 saves in taking the LA loss as the Kings dropped to 34-30-7.
LA is now six points back of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
“There’s still 22 points to be had,” LA’s Jarome Iginla said. “Things can change very quickly, but we do know we have to get our fair share of them. Whether that’s all of them or not, we know we have to win.”
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