Markstrom makes 28 saves, Flames defeat Wild

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves, and Jonathan Huberdeau ended an 18-game goal drought for the Calgary Flames in a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

"It felt good. It's been a while,” said Huberdeau, who hadn't scored since Nov. 20. “I think lately we've been playing better, so I think it was good to get chemistry on our line, too. That one obviously felt good, and especially to finish it off with a win.”

Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman also scored, and MacKenzie Weegar had two assists for the Flames (16-16-5), who have won two in a row and five of their past seven.

“It was a win. Maybe we'll put it that way,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “For the first two periods, I thought we did some good things. Third period, we were on our heels for a lot of it. Thankfully, we had a goaltender that was on his game tonight because I think he allowed us to get the two points."

Pat Maroon scored for the Wild (16-16-4), who have lost three straight. Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves and remains one win shy of tying Patrick Roy (551) for second in NHL history.

“I thought the second and third period we dictated the game and gave ourselves a chance to win the game,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “Unfortunately tonight ... the puck didn’t go in for us. I thought their goaltender was excellent. We had enough saves in our net to win the game, but I really felt that there was lots of good in the game. Unfortunately, (we) didn’t win tonight.”

Mangiapane gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 11:40 of the first period, redirecting Rasmus Andersson's shot from along the right boards during a 4-on-4.

Huberdeau made it 2-0 at 19:36, taking a pass from Elias Lindholm as he cut across the crease before tucking a backhand past Fleury's left pad.

"It was good. It was a good shot by [Andersson] there, and it was a good play all around for all the guys on the ice there,” Mangiapane said. “I'm sure 'Hubey's' pretty happy there as well. That was a nice goal. Nice finish, nice pass by 'Lindy.'"

Maroon cut it to 2-1 at 9:28 of the second period. Nic Petan's initial shot off a pass from Maroon on a 3-on-1 was stopped by Markstrom, but the rebound bounced back to Maroon, who knocked it into an open net.

“There’s no real kinks in our game,” Maroon said. “We’re still playing good hockey. The first period shot us in the foot, and then you’re playing catch up.

“We’re still building here. We’re doing a lot of good things. We’re trending in the right direction. We’ve just got to find a way to get out of this little losing streak here. We got a big game against Tampa coming up (on Thursday). We just have to come out and play a full 60.”

Andersson helped preserve the lead at 9:17 of the third period when he blocked a shot from Frederick Gaudreau that appeared to have been going into an open net.

Fleury then kept Minnesota within one by making a sprawling save on A.J. Greer at 13:01. He stopped Greer again 19 seconds later with a pad save.

However, Coleman scored into an empty net at 19:03 for the 3-1 final.

"I thought we had a good start, especially in this building,” Huberdeau said. “It's not easy. After that, I think they pushed back. We knew that was going to happen. 'Marky' stood up. Guys were blocking shots. That's the kind of team we are: resiliency. We came up with a huge win."

NOTES: Huberdeau has two points (one goal, one assist) in his past two games after going 12 games without a point. ... Wild forward Marcus Foligno (lower body) did not play.