Markstrom makes 40 saves, Flames defeat Wild in double shutout

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Jacob Markstrom made 40 saves in his first shutout of the season, and the Calgary Flames won 1-0 against the Minnesota Wild in a shootout at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday.

Markstrom made three more saves in the four-round shootout.
"I thought our guys did a great job of making sure that I saw most of the pucks," Markstrom said. "A lot of sharp blocks. … It's the second game of a back to back, and we need to string games together. Nice to get one of these."
Nazem Kadri and Tyler Toffoli scored in the shootout for Calgary (29-23-13), which won 5-4 against the Dallas Stars on Monday, when Markstrom made 29 saves.
The Flames moved within four points of the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Jets have one game in hand.
"You know what, we're fighting for points," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. "We know that. There were one or two rough games at home and everybody threw us under the bus, so good on them."

Filip Gustavsson made 26 saves in his second straight shutout for Minnesota (36-21-7), which had won four straight and visits Winnipeg on Wednesday. The Wild extended their point streak to 10 games (8-0-2).
Minnesota pulled within two points of first-place Dallas in the Central Division. The Wild are three ahead of the Colorado Avalanche, who won 6-0 against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday.
"We played really well," Minnesota coach Dean Evason said. " … We had our opportunities. There's no question their goalie played good. They play sound defensively, but we still had lots of good looks. We did a lot of really good things in this hockey game."
Jared Spurgeon appeared to score for the Wild off a rebound at 3:14 of overtime, but video review initiated by the NHL Situation Room determined Spurgeon preceded the puck into the offensive zone and was offside prior to his goal.
"You think you win it there for a second and have to come back," said Spurgeon, who is Minnesota's captain. "Thought we played a good game. We had chances and obviously they played a good game as well. But we got one point. Obviously, we'd like two, but we've got a big one tomorrow as well."
Gustavsson and Markstrom took turns denying 2-on-1 attempts in the first period.
Gustavsson stopped Elias Lindholm on a short-handed breakaway at 2:37.
"Today we gave up a few odd-man rushes in the first period then we started to clean it up," Gustavsson said. "That's the way we've been playing the past couple of weeks and months. Not giving up too many 2-on-1s and odd-man rushes and that stuff. I think that and stick on puck and blocks."
Markstrom then made a save on Kirill Kaprizov at 10:08 with the rebound just missing Mats Zuccarello.

Gustavsson kept it 0-0 at 12:50 after
Jake Middleton
gave the puck away for Dillon Dube to get a snap shot off.
Gaudreau held the puck too long in a 3-on-1 attempt against Markstrom, who made the pad save at 4:16 of the second period.
"'Marky' was outstanding all night, kept us in it and gave us a chance in the shootout," Toffoli said. ""Honestly, I'm so happy for him. He's an incredible guy, a great teammate. Obviously the start of the year wasn't his greatest. Obviously a lot of people were all over him for it, but I think he's really stepped up, especially these last two games. Even before this he was keeping us in games we weren't winning. I'm just really happy for him and glad we could get him a win."
Gustavsson again kept it 0-0, reaching back to cover up a rebound that dribbled loose from a Jakob Pelletier snap shot at 18:21 of the second.
Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson swatted a loose puck from the air, preventing a goal at 1:28 of the third period to keep it 0-0.
Frederick Gaudreau scored Minnesota's lone goal in the shootout.
NOTES: Calgary's penalty kill went 7-for-7. … Markstrom had a 40-save shutout for the second time with the Flames (Oct. 28, 2021; 45 saves at the Pittsburgh Penguins). He is the third goalie in Flames history with multiple such performances, joining Dan Bouchard (three times) and Mike Smith. … Gustavsson can tie Devan Dubnyk for most consecutive shutouts in Wild history at three. Dubnyk did it twice: Oct. 25-29, 2016, and Nov. 9-14, 2017. … Forward Oskar Sundqvist had one shot in 11:46 of ice time in his Wild debut after being traded from the Detroit Red Wings on March 3.