Canucks win in shootout, hand Flames 4th straight loss

CALGARY --Spencer Martin made 35 saves for the Vancouver Canucks, who handed the Calgary Flames their fourth straight loss with a 4-3 shootout win at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

"It's never too early to start battling for important division points," Martin said. "We want to be in the playoffs, obviously. They were, I think, four points ahead of us, and that's a really big time to come up with two points."
Bo Horvat scored, and Nils Hoglander had two assists for the Canucks (13-13-3), who have won six straight on the road and four of their past five overall. Andrei Kuzmenko scored the only goal in the shootout.
Hoglander was inserted into the lineup after Brock Boeser was scratched following warmups because of a non-COVID illness.
"To me, that was his most complete game of the year," Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. "Energetic-wise, he was hitting, he was skating, he was creating. I thought he did a really good job."
Mikael Backlund, Andrew Mangiapane and Trevor Lewis scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves for the Flames (13-11-6), who are 0-1-3 in their past four.
"You've just got to keep your chin up," Calgary forward Nazem Kadri said. "It's a long season, and getting down on yourself or thinking you're better than you are is, both sides of the spectrum can be dangerous. With some experience you learn that, and I think we've got the right attitude in here."

Horvat gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 1:14 of the first period when he redirected Oliver Ekman-Larsson's point shot, which was going wide, five-hole on Markstrom.
Conor Garland then scored 34 seconds later at 1:48 to make it 2-0, shooting short side over Markstrom's right shoulder from the left face-off circle.
"I think a lot of our problems in the past have been we try to make too many cute plays, especially early," Horvat said. "Tonight we kept it simple, and there was the result there."
Backlund cut it to 2-1 at 9:40 when he redirected in a centering pass from Dillon Dube on the power play.
Mangiapane tied it 2-2 at 16:09 with a one-timer under the left pad of Martin off a backhand pass from Kadri from below the goal line.
"It's good to tie the period after the first, but just too much back and forth tonight," Dube said.
"It's a tough league to score in, for sure. We're throwing a lot of shots at him, and it's getting those second and third opportunities to bear down on is what's really, really important for our group right now."

Lewis banked in his own rebound from below the goal line to put the Flames in front 3-2 at 3:51 of the second period, but Sheldon Dries tied it 3-3 at 5:31 when he shot over Markstrom's glove after receiving a saucer pass from Hoglander in the left circle.
In overtime, Jonathan Huberdeau had a chance to win it for the Flames but missed a tap in at 1:20. Ilya Mikheyev then had an opportunity to win it for the Canucks, but his breakaway attempt was stopped by Markstrom with 1:05 remaining.
"I was proud of the way we played tonight," Horvat said. "It's a tough building to come into, and they've got a good team over there. Obviously, I would've liked to not give up a two-goal lead, but at the same time, we didn't panic. In previous games or earlier in the year, we might've had a little panic in our game."

NOTES:It was Vancouver's ninth comeback win this season; only the Edmonton Oilers (10) have more. … Horvat is tied for fourth in the NHL with 21 goals this season. He also has 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his past 13 games. … Backlund has five points (one goal, four assists) in a five-game point streak.