Flames Fall To Wild

Mikael Backlund and Connor Zary scored for Calgary, but the Flames were beaten 5-2 by the visiting Wild Tuesday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Defenceman Ilya Solovyov drew into the lineup for the homeside, along with forward Walker Duehr, and assisted on Zary’s tally for his first NHL point.

Dan Vladar was busy early and made 13 saves on 16 shots before being replaced by Dustin Wolf in the second period, who finished with 11 saves on 14 shots.

Filip Gustavsson made 24 saves for the Wild.

The team announced earlier Tuesday that Jacob Markstrom is week-to-week with a fractured finger, but no surgery was required, which led to Wolf's recall from the AHL Wrangers.

The visitors opened the scoring just 1:23 in when Marcus Foligno beat Solovyov and fired a rocket under the bar as he fell to the ice that went in-and-out so fast the officials didn’t signal a goal. Eventually the war room in Toronto signalled the off-ice officials to sound the horn and stop play, the ref then sending everyone to centre ice for a faceoff.

Vladar was tested early and often, making a pair of stellar saves a minute apart later in the frame. First he got his glove on a forehand-backhand attempt by Pat Maroon on a partial breakaway after a turnover at the Flames blueline, then he stoned Jonas Brodin who skated into the slot and took a pass from behind the net and one-timed the puck from one knee.

Then just before the midway point of the period, he denied Joel Eriksson Ek right on the doorstep.

The highlight of the opening 20 for Calgary was Jonathan Huberdeau laying a huge hit on Brandon Duhaime deep in the Wild zone.

But the ice was heavily tilted for the Wild in the frame, as Minnesota finished with a 13-5 edge in shots after 20 minutes.

The Wild made it 2-0 just 45 seconds into the second period, Vladar stopping the first shot from Marco Rossi but the rebound squirting out and onto the stick of Kirill Kaprizov who alone on the back door to smack it home.

Just 45 seconds after that, Matt Boldy skated into the Calgary and zone and cut across, wiring a wrister that beat Vladar high gloveside and ended his night.

Backlund got Calgary on the board with a deft tip of a MacKenzie Weegar point shot at 6:51, the puck beating Gustavsson who had Huberdeau parked in front of him along with a Wild. Rasmus Andersson got the other assist.

Boldy restored the three-goal cushion on the powerplay at the 13:57 mark, redirecting a slap pass from Kaprizov.

Wolf came up big with a monster stop on a shorthanded breakaway attempt by Duhaime with less than four minutes to go in the middle stanza.

Solovyov skated into the zone and shovelled a long-distance backhander on net that Zary tipped home for his fourth of the season 1:36 into the third period, with Nazem Kadri getting a helper on the play, too.

The Wild rounded out the scoring at 6:49 when Eriksson Ek tallied.

The Lineup:

Trios and D-partners to start the tilt:

Forwards

Andrew Mangiapane - Elias Lindholm - Yegor Sharangovich

Connor Zary - Nazem Kadri - Dillon Dube

Jonathan Huberdeau - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman

A.J. Greer - Adam Ruzicka - Walker Duehr

Defence

MacKenzie Weegar - Rasmus Andersson

Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev

Ilya Solovyov - Jordan Oesterle

Goaltenders

Dan Vladar - starter

Dustin Wolf

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 30, MIN 29

Powerplay: CGY 0-3, MIN 1-3

Faceoffs: CGY 60%, MIN 40%

Blocked Shots: CGY 16, MIN 19

Hits: CGY 20, MIN 13

Vernon Honoured:

Flames legend Mike Vernon was honoured for his recent entry to the Hockey Hall of Fame and performed the ceremonial faceoff prior to the tilt.

Check out the vids below on his night.

Up Next:

The Flames return to the ice Thursday night when they host the Carolina Hurricanes at 7 p.m. Click for tickets