In Calgary, John Hynes won his fourth straight game as the Minnesota Wild’s coach in a 5-2 win over the Flames on Tuesday night.
Matt Boldy hit for a double for the Wild.
The Wild improved to 9-10-4.
“Give a lot of credit to John — he’s come in and just established what he wants us to do and play like, and it’s a lot faster and our breaking out is a lot better than it has been,” Minnesota’s Marcus Foligno said. “It’s on us too. Guys are snapping the puck around and it’s tape-to-tape, it’s a lot easier when you play like that. And then, just, it’s a kick in the butt when you get a coach fired.
“We knew that it wasn’t right and we weren’t playing our style. We got off the tracks a little bit, we got it back on and there’s still a mountain to climb, but there’s a lot of guys that don’t quit in this room.”
Filip Gustavsson made 28 saves in the loss.
Foligno got the Wild offense going at 1:26 of the first when he staked them to a 1-0 lead off a power play marker.
Kirill Kaprizov pushed the lead to 2-0 with 45 seconds gone in the middle frame.
Calgary dropped to 10-12-3.
“It’s just on everybody in this room,” Calgary forward Blake Coleman said. “Whatever it is, the preparation, it’s not there from the drop and even in games where we are energy-wise, we’re good, we’re making mistakes that are back in the net. It’s hard to chase games.”
Boldy extended the advantage to 3-0 for the Wild at 1:30 of the second.
“We score goals at the right time, kill penalties at the right time, power play had one,” Boldy said. “It’s doing the right things and when teams are playing well, it kind of just works out like that. Goals like that are huge. It’s a game-changer.”
Mikael Backlund scored to get the Flames on the board at 6:51 for a 3-1 lead to the Wild.
Boldy replied at 13:58 with his double for a 4-1 advantage.
“Guys are playing well, playing fast with the puck, confident,” Boldy said. “I think it was a matter of kind of getting that first one, getting that relief. You relax so much after you’re able to get that first win. Obviously, we’re rolling with it and using the momentum that we have from it.”
Calgary’s Connor Zary scored to make the score 4-2 for the Wild at 1:37 of the third period
Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek added a marker at 6:49 for the 5-2 final.
Dan Vladar got the start for Calgary, but was given the hook in the middle frame after yielding three goals, making 13 saves.
“It’s never a good sign when you’re swapping your goalies out, and it’s completely on us,” Calgary’s Blake Coleman said. “‘Vladdy’ was left out to dry early in the game and we shouldn’t have seen ‘Wolfie’ in this game. With that said, he came in and gave us a little bit of life and a little jump and we just weren’t able to sustain it.”
Dustin Wolf made 11 saves in relief.
“We know we can be better,” Backlund said. “This is the worst start in a long time. Hopefully, the worst that we’ll see in a while. We all know it. It’s been discussed. Now we’re looking forward to next game (against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday). We know we’ve got to come out a lot harder and have a really good first period.”
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