Flames score 4 in third, rally past Devils

NEWARK, N.J. -- The Calgary Flames scored four straight goals in the third period in a 5-3 comeback victory against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday.

Connor Zary, Daniil Miromanov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri scored in the third and Dustin Wolf made 26 saves for the Flames (32-25-11), who are 2-2-1 in their past five games.

Calgary trails the St. Louis Blues by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with two games in hand.

"I think we were getting under their defensemen in the third," Huberdeau said. "I think they were turning the puck over and I thought we had more legs. We were skating a little faster and I think we were creating more chances. I felt like we kind of knew it was going to come."

Calgary coach Ryan Huska said he knew his team had a chance after the first shift of the third period.

"Oftentimes in the third, if you start well and put some pressure on, it gives your bench a little bit of jump," Huska said. "That first shift (with Zary-Kadri-Martin Pospisil) was a good one and we just kind of built on it from there."

Nico Hischier had a goal and an assist and Jacob Markstrom made 23 saves for the Devils (37-27-6), who have lost two of their past three. The Devils are third in the Metropolitan Division, six points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for second.

Markstrom is 1-5-0 in six games since returning from a knee injury on March 2.

"The goalie has to make a save, that's part of the job, but we got to do a better job of protecting him," New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said. "[Markstrom] is still trying to find his game. I haven't seen progress (since his return from injury)."

Calgary scored four consecutive goals on 15 shots in the third period.

Zary began the comeback when he scored to make it 3-2 at 6:50 of the third period on a snap shot from the high slot.

Wolf then denied Dawson Mercer with his left pad on a short-handed breakaway at 7:51 of the third to keep Calgary within one goal.

"I felt like they were trying to make me make the move first, which I kind of did but was able to recover," Wolf said. "They've got some high-end skill over there and I'm just glad we were able to find one more than them."

Miromanov tied the game 3-3 at 15:40 on a snap shot low in the right face-off circle.

"I saw an opportunity to go far side there," Miromanov said. "'Markie' was here when I got traded so it's always nice when you have a goalie on your team, but then the goalie goes to the other team and you kind of know the holes to put it in. It's a big goal to tie the game and the guys took off from there."

Huberdeau then scored an unassisted goal one minute later for a 4-3 lead at 16:40.

Kadri scored an empty-net goal at 19:48 for the 5-3 final.

Hischier gave the Devils a 1-0 lead at 17:09 of the first period on a wraparound at the right post that trickled between the pads of Wolf.

"I think it's normal in a game when a team is down that they'll have a push, but I think we're having a wrong mindset," Hischier said. "We have to embrace their push and be ready for it. I think we were a little bit too scared out there to make mistakes and usually when you have that mindset that's when mistakes happen."

Erik Haula made it 2-0 on a snap shot from the high slot that deflected off the chest of Flames defenseman Kevin Bahl at the right post at 5:25 of the second period.

Matt Coronato pulled Calgary within 2-1 on a power play goal at 11:58 when his shot from low in the left face-off circle deflected off the stick of Mercer and over the line.

Paul Cotter pushed it to 3-1 Devils on a wrist shot at 19:32.

"I liked our resiliency," Wolf said. "Our second period probably wasn't our best but the message in here was we have to find a way because these points are critical. We're kind of in do-or-die range right now so it was a heck of an effort from the boys in the third period."

NOTES: Calgary concludes a four-game road trip at the New York Islanders on Saturday. ... Kadri scored his 25th goal of the season to become third Flames player in the past 10 years with consecutive 25-goal seasons (Sean Monahan, five from 2014-19; Elias Lindholm, two from 2018-20). ... Hischier (three goals, three assists) extended his point streak to five games. It is his ninth five-game point streak, tying Aaron Broten for the 10th most in franchise history.