In Calgary, the Flames erased a 2-0 deficit from the first period with three goals in the middle fame on Wednesday, and eventually downed the Minnesota Wild, 5-3.
Nazem Kadri and Tyler Toffoli scored power play goals in the second period outburst.
Dan Vladar made 25 saves for the win.
Calgary improved to 13-10-3.
Kirill Kaprizov and Mason Shaw gave the Wild a 2-0 lad in the first period.
“To be honest, I don’t really think about that. I don’t pay attention to that,” Kaprizov said. “It’s a credit to my teammates that I play with. If it wasn’t for them, none of this would be possible, so thank you to them. Ultimately at the end of the day, we want to win as a team. This is a team game, and the win is more important than a personal record.”
With a 3-2 advantage headed to the third, the Wild rallied to tie, 3-3, on a goal in the third from Jon Merrill.
“That wasn’t our hottest start, for sure, but that shows a lot of maturity from our group, just staying poised and composed and not letting that seep into the second and third period,” Kadri said. “I’m proud of our guys, but definitely could have a better start, for sure.”
Minnesota dropped to 13-10-1-2.
“To be honest, I’m not sure exactly what they did or how they did it,” Kaprizov said. “We need to focus on our game, play our game, and when we do that, we can win. If we continue to focus and continue to pay attention and stay strict throughout the whole game, we’ll win.”
Rasmus Andersson replied 12 seconds later for the Flames for the eventual game-winner at 4-3.
“We said we wanted to have a good homestand, and that’s what we did,” Andersson said. “We’re 4-1 and there’s the small stuff clicking like power play lately and the PK has been good, and our 5-on-5 has been better, and we’ve got good goalies.”
Toffoli hit an empty net for the 5-3 final.
Marc-Andre Fleury made 22 saves in the loss.
“I think we’ve got to find a way when we’re ahead to stay calm but still play with the pace, still be aggressive out there,” Fleury said. “Got to make a few saves too and help the guys out.”
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