Five Flames score to defeat Avalanche, gain in wild-card race

CALGARY-- Mikael Backlund had a goal and two assists, and Jon Gillies made 28 saves to help the Calgary Flames defeat the Colorado Avalanche 5-1 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Michael Frolik, Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan and Troy Brouwer scored for the Flames (32-22-9), who have won two in a row and moved one point ahead of the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"For us right now it's just stringing games together," Giordano said. "There's enough time where if you win your games that you're supposed to, you'll get in. We've got to take care of our own business, get a little streak going."
WATCH: [All Avalanche vs. Flames highlights]
Nathan MacKinnon scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves for the Avalanche (32-24-5), who have lost four of five and trail Calgary by four points. Colorado remained six points behind the Minnesota Wild for third place in the Central Division.
"We know that we have the capability and we have the team and character and the will to come back from behind, but it takes a lot of energy out of the team to do that on a night-to-night basis," Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. "You can't let them score (18) seconds into the game and things like that, especially when we know how important of a game is."
Frolik scored on the first shot of the game to put the Flames up 1-0 at 18 seconds, and Giordano scored on Calgary's fourth shot to make it 2-0 at 7:24.

MacKinnon made it 2-1 with 3:36 remaining when his dump-in from inside center ice caromed off the post and off Gillies.
"I was just trying to figure out what happened," said Gillies, who has won back-to-back starts in place of injured starter Mike Smith playing ahead of David Rittich. "I would understand if it was rolling and it bounced like that, but when a flat puck bounces up and back like that, it's confusing. Nothing you can do about it, good or bad. You just have to respond."
Monahan put Calgary up 3-1 with a power-play goal at 10:50, after MacKinnon hit the crossbar at 7:24 and Samuel Girard hit the post at 8:26. Monahan has eight points (two goal, six assists) in his past six games, and 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in his past 13 games.
"We get one, and then in the second period it's just a matter of tying it up," Landeskog said. "You really see how quick things can turn there when we had the power play and Nate has one [hit] the crossbar and we have some other chances."
Brouwer scored 2:39 into the third period to make it 4-1, and Backlund scored on the power play, his first goal in 12 games, to give the Flames a 5-1 lead at 14:46.

Goal of the game

Giordano's goal at 7:24 of the first period.

Save of the game

Gillies' save on Tyson Barrie at 5:06 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

MacKinnon's goal at 16:24 of the first period.

They said it

"Anytime you're at this point of the season, any team that's trying to catch you in the standings, you have to make sure you're getting wins against them and keeping that separation. We don't have a lot of time to waste as far as accumulating points to get ourselves into the playoffs as well." -- Flames forward Troy Brouwer
"It's tough. Playing from behind, catch-up hockey is losing hockey generally. We give up the goal on the first shift of the game and then we have a really good first period. I think our guys were ready to go. It was a turnover behind the net, and I'm sure [Varlamov] would like that one back too." -- Avalanche coach Jared Bednar

Need to know

Calgary has nine power-play goals in the past six games. … Colorado is 3-4-1 in day games this season. … Duncan Siemens had an assist on MacKinnon's goal for his first NHL point in his eighth game. … Flames forward Micheal Ferland (upper body) was scratched. … Calgary placed Smith on injured reserve Saturday. He is day to day with a lower-body injury.

What's next

Avalanche: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Monday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, SNP, NHL.TV)
Flames: At the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, SNW, NHL.TV)