STATE OF MARKY

Jacob Markstrom has answered the call.
In a big, big way.
Less than a week ago, Darryl Sutter sat at the mic and made no bones about what he and the Flames needed from their No. 1 puck-stopper down the stretch. "We need Marky to get hot," the coach said matter-of-factly. "He's such a great teammate and a great guy - and now, he's got to put his foot on it."
It's clear, now, the pedal is pressed firmly to the floor.
Markstrom - who got the start on back-to-back nights - was truly magnificent, recording a season-high 40 saves in regulation and overtime, before stopping three of four attempts in the shootout, to lead the Flames to a 1-0 win over the Wild on Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center.
It was Markstrom's first shutout of the season and first since March 12, 2022, when he turned aside all 19 shots in a 3-0 win over the Red Wings.
On this night, however, he was far busier. Better. And it didn't come without some drama.

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Minnesota scored with 1:40 to play in overtime, but after a lengthy, league-initiated review, it was determined that the eventual goal-scorer - Jared Spurgeon - was offside upon entering the zone. Hilariously, many of the players had already retreated to the locker-room, but had to be called back, along with the stick rack, replacement skate blades and more.
But it was clear, the visitors - led by their esteemed netminder - had had new life.
Tyler Toffoli scored the shootout winner only 24 hours after notching the game-winner with some late heroics in Dallas. With the win, the Flames improve to 28-23-13 on the year and pull to within four points of the final playoff spot (although the Jets - who currently occupy the eighth seed - do have a game in hand).
"He was unbelievable," Rasmus Andersson of his netminder. "He's been unbelievable the last five, six games. He really deserved that one today. He deserved that shutout. I'm excited for him. It's really good for our team. He's our leader and when he plays like that, we have a lot of confidence.
"Obviously, a really tough back-to-back. Played a good team last night and played another really good team today. We managed to pull one through thanks to No. 25."
Sutter added that it was good for Markstrom to get some credit, and that "he was the first star of the game, for sure."
Hard to argue that.
The Wild opened a scoreless third period with 1:41 left on a carry-over powerplay, and there was no shortage of chances to open the frame. First, Matt Boldy had a golden opportunity when a loose puck squirted free at the far circle, but his one-time blast was smothered by the Flames netminder, who came out and challenged at the top of his crease.
Then, after a turnover below the goal line prolonged an already lengthy penalty-killing shift, Kirill Kaprizov had a point-blank shot that Markstrom casually swallowed up.

The Wild had seven of the first eight shots of the period, before Markstrom turned in his biggest of the night (so far), robbing Jake Middleton not once, but twice, as the blueliner cruised in from the point, took a feed from Oscar Sundqvist, and had a clean pair of looks from the slot.
But if you didn't think that was filthy enough, Markstrom then made a gargantuan, season-saving, save-of-the-year candidate with seven and change left in the period. Jared Spurgeon pinched in from the right point and took a beautiful feed from Zuccarello, but Markstrom pushed off his right post, reached to the heavens and speared the Spurgeon blast with some incredible leather larceny.
It was a goaltending masterless, through and through, with the Wild out-shooting the Flames 17-6 in the third.
Markstrom now has a .936 save percentage and a 2.21 goals-against average since Sutter's March 1 press conference.
He's hot, alright.
And is getting better by the game.
"Feeling good," Markstrom said, rather modestly. "Practicing good, feeling good, sleeping good. Everything is good and especially when we win.
"I thought our guys did a great job of making sure that I saw most of the pucks and there were a lot of shot blocks. Our penalty kill was huge and it played a big role, especially in the second period and the third when they had a 4-on-3. That's a huge kill for our team. Second game of a back-to-back and we need to string games together, so it's nice to get one of these."
Toffoli echoed Andersson's thoughts, offering more credit to his goalie than the man himself would ever give to himself:
"Honestly, I'm so happy for him. He's just an incredible guy, a great teammate," he said. "Obviously, the start of the year wasn't his greatest and a lot of people were all over him for a bit, but he's stepped up - especially these last few games. And even before this, he was keeping us in games. I'm just really happy for him and glad we could get him a win."

Nick Ritchie was tagged with the first penalty, putting the Wild's 12th-ranked powerplay to work only 2:15 into the game. However, it was the Flames that got the better of the chances, including a 2-on-1 with Mikael Backlund and trigger-man Elias Lindholm, followed by an Andrew Mangiapane breakaway late in the advantage.
Neither converted.
Moments later, Kaprizov tried his hand at snapping the scoreless deadlock when he led on a 2-on-1 with Zuccarello, but Markstrom kicked out the right pad to not only make the stop, but the steer the rebound safely over the stick of the trailing Wild forward.
The Flames got their first look on the powerplay with 7:13 to go in the period when Ryan Hartman took a pair of undisciplined penalties on the same sequence, well after the whistle. Rasmus Andersson and Trevor Lewis were on the receiving end of the forward's antics - one, getting a two-hand chop across the palm, while the other was popped clean with a sucker-punch to the button.
Oddly, nothing seemed to precipitate it, either.
The Flames had a couple of good looks early in the double-minor, before Noah Hanifin dragged down Marcus Foligno on a partial break to negate the final 1:47.
Shots on goal favoured the Wild 12-10 after one.
There was nothing new to report in a mucky middle frame, with penalties both ways and much of the offensive zone time spent digging in the trenches. The Wild out-shot the Flames 10-7, but very little was happening in the high-danger areas, despite a litany of penalties disrupting the flow both ways.

THEY SAID IT:

The line of the night goes to Andersson, who was one of apparently 10 players who had gone back to the locker-room and were the midst of getting undressed before they were called back to the bench in OT:
"I was really upset there. All the thoughts going through your head, so I was in there, half undressed. Then Gibby (Dennis Gilbert) was like, 'It might be offside.' I was like, 'Yeah, right. They're just checking from the league.' They're like, 'Ras. It might be offside. Ras. It's OFFSIDE.' I was like, 'Oh my God!' I have to get my equipment on and I was like the first shift after, so it was a range of emotions and it's crazy how your brain can switch from one second to another."

Toffoli wasn't "naming names," but says it was pretty hilarious to watch play out:
"I think there were 10 of us in the room. We thought the game was over, obviously. We heard everybody screaming to get back out there and we went back out and Darryl told us to get our heads back into it.
"There was some gear (taken off), I'm not going to name names. Not mine. My jersey might have been off. But was on my lap still... But there was some gear off."

Sutter on back-to-back wins and staying alive in the playoff race:
"We're fighting for points. We know that. We had one or two rough games at home and everybody threw us under the bus, so good on (the players)."

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 26 - MIN 40
Powerplay: CGY 0-for-3 - MIN 0-for-5
Hits: CGY 23 - MIN 18
Faceoffs: CGY 53% - MIN 48%
\Scoring chances: CGY 15 - MIN 23
\High-danger scoring chances: CGY 5 - MIN 12
*Courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (5-on-5)

THE LINEUP:

FORWARDS
Jakob Pelletier - Elias Lindholm - Tyler Toffoli
Nick Ritchie - Nazem Kadri - Jonathan Huberdeau
Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman
Milan Lucic - Dillon Dube - Trevor Lewis

DEFENCE
MacKenzie Weegar - Rasmus Andersson
Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev
Nikita Zadorov - Troy Stecher

GOALTENDERS
Jacob Markstrom - Starter
Dan Vladar

UP NEXT:

The Flames return to the friendly confines of the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday as they open a two-game homestand against the Anaheim Ducks.
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