Flames lose to Canucks in shootout, slip in West wild card race

The Calgary Flames failed to keep pace in the Western Conference wild card race with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Elias Lindholm and Nazem Kadri scored in the third period to tie it 2-2 and help earn a point for the Flames, who couldn't score in the shootout and fell one point behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the West with two games remaining.
"A sour taste from this one," Lindholm said. "It's going to sting a little bit."
Winnipeg, which has a game in hand on Calgary, defeated the Nashville Predators 2-0 earlier Saturday.
Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves for the Flames (37-27-16), who lost for the second time in the past seven games (5-1-1).
"Sloppy start, sloppy first period, then the second and third, I think we were the better team," Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. "We had some long offensive] zone shifts and created some looks, but [goalie
[Thatcher] Demko
was kind of standing on his head. Second, third and overtime, we probably deserved to get that extra point, but it doesn't happen. It's frustrating, but we move on."
Demko made 41 saves, Cole McWard scored his first NHL goal and Andrei Kuzmenko scored the only shootout goal in the first round for the Canucks (36-36-7), who have won consecutive games after a four-game skid (0-2-2).
"We know where they are, so we know they were going to come out hard and we wanted to match that, and I think we did a really good job," Vancouver forward Elias Pettersson said. "I think we let our foot off the gas, but other than that I'm happy with our team."

McWard, whose parents were on hand to see him play his second NHL game after signing as a free agent out of Ohio State on Tuesday, put the Canucks ahead 1-0 with a screened wrist shot from the point at 9:03 of the first period.
"Happy I got to score in front of them," McWard said. "I got the puck up top, thought maybe I could walk to the middle and get the shot and they took that away, so went back outside and got it through and just saw it go in. It was awesome."
Pettersson made it 2-0 on a short-handed breakaway at 13:29, deflecting a pass at the Vancouver blue line to J.T. Miller, then skating into a return pass before firing a wrist shot over the blocker of Markstrom from between the hash marks for his fifth goal in the past seven games.
"I had a lot of thinking to do before I shot it, so I just tried to shoot it quick and beat him," Pettersson said.

Demko made a handful of tough saves off Lindholm, including a sprawling, fully extended glove on a short-handed 2-on-1 with 2:03 left in the second period.
Lindholm finally scored with his eighth shot of the game 38 seconds into the third period to make it 2-1. After Quinn Hughes and Miller turned the puck over inside their blue line, Lindholm one-timed a cross-ice pass to the left face-off dot from Dillon Dube back the other way over the glove of Demko.
"Had a lot of chances, had a lot of chances to score some more goals," Lindholm said. "And I think we could have put this game away."
Kadri tied it 2-2 at 6:06 just before a power play expired, making a quick move to the blocker side after being left alone atop the crease as Noah Hanifin barely kept the puck in at the blue line and threw it towards the net.
"It's not really winning hockey for me," Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. "When Calgary put pushes on us, I just saw some backup. We've got to get that out of here. You've got to lock it down and you can't just rely on [Demko]. He played great."
NOTES: The Flames host the Predators, who are two points behind them in the wild card race, on Monday. "It's going to be a huge game," Lindholm said. … Pettersson and Miller each have nine short-handed points (five goals, four assists) this season, tying Pavel Bure (1992-93 and 1997-98) and Russ Courtnall (1995-96) for the team record in a season. … Pettersson's fifth short-handed goal ties Miller for the NHL lead.