Calgary Flames get into playoff race with 4-3 win over Minnesota Wild -NHL
Calgary Flames are finally back in the playoff race as they edged the Minnesota Wild, 4-3, on Sunday night, March 11, 2012, at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Standing at number eight in the Western Conference with 76 points just got a whole lot harder as Los Angeles Kings and Colorado Avalanche also trail behind levelled. All three teams will be looking to move up back into the playoff division by winning their
upcoming games.
"It's huge for us. We've been battling, and we've been kind of nipping at the heels here for a while. We're playing well right at the right time," Calgary’s Curtis Glencross said.
With less than a month remaining till the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season comes to a close, tensions are mounting everywhere and especially in Calgary as they hope to secure the spot before being knocked down by anyone else.
"I got blood pressure pills. Believe me. We had some shifts there where we had guys standing around and let them get some momentum on us. But you know what? We found a way to be resilient there too," Calgary Flames head coach, Brent Sutter, said.
Flames’ captain, Jarome Iginla, kicked off the scoring with his 29th of the hockey year midway through the first. Calgary killed off a crucial penalty with less than two minutes remaining in the opener as the visiting team was called for having
too many men on the ice.
After a slow second period, both teams fired off in the last 20 minutes.
Sven Baertschi got his first goal of the season 1:43 into the third but as Erik Christensen fired off two straight in the next few minutes to level the contest, hopes were not looking high for Calgary until they answered back that is.
Iginla setup Curtis Glencross for the tie-breaker and it was Olli Jokinen at 14:42 with the game winner as Devin Setoguchi brought Minnesota within one of tying it at 18:56 but failed to add anymore after that.
On a three-game winning streak now, Calgary has the next at home against San Jose Sharks on Tuesday and will definitely be looking forward to extending it to four straight.
The ousted Minnesota Wild can expect some heat when they face-off against Dallas Stars on the same day.
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