NHL Update: Minnesota Wild edged Calgary Flames, 6-0
Niklas Backstrom stopped 37 shots for his second shutout of the season, as Minnesota Wild outlasted Calgary Flames, 6-0, on Wednesday night.
“The guys have been playing really well,” Backstrom said after his 21st NHL shutout. “It’s been fun to watch and it makes you hungry to come back.”
Martin Havlat scored twice and had an assist. John Madden, Chuck Kobasew and Cal Clutterbuck each also tallied a goal and assisted once for Minnesota, which has won consecutive games. Mikko
Koivu also found the net for Wild, who has outscored the opposition 14-1 during its streak.
Miikka Kiprusoff surrendered all six goals on 24 shots for Calgary, which has lost its past two play-offs and six of eight contests.
"It was one of those games where we never had our 'A' game here," said Flames head coach Brent Sutter. "We will be better on Friday and we obviously know that, we can't play that way."
Wild took just four minutes to gain 1-0 lead in the opening period. The play was set up by Kyle Brodziak, who threw the puck over to the slot from the right circle as he was falling. Havlat
then collected the puck and blasted a wrist shot into the net.
Koivu gave Minnesota a two-goal advantage on the power-play 2 ½ minutes later, as he ripped a shot through scramble past the screened Calgary goalie.
“Getting that first goal and then one the power play was a huge, huge lift for us,” Todd Richards said. “We gave up some opportunities, but despite the shots, I think a lot of them were from
out. Nik did great job. He was big, he was in control. When there were rebounds we fought hard in front of him.”
Just 1 ½ minute into the middle period, Minnesota got another chance to score. It happened so when Curtis Glencross sent Clayton Stoner head-first into the boards behind the net. However,
Calgary’s penalty kill successfully prevented any damage.
Minnesota, though, increased its lead to make it 3-0 game with 1 ½ minute remaining in the second session. It started when Andrew Brunette slipped the puck from behind the net to the front
of the net where Madden one- timed it home.
Wild continued to enhance the advantage and make it a 4-0 game in the third minute of the final stanza. This time Clutterbuck fired a simple wrist shot from the outside left circle and the
shot went over the blocker of Kiprusoff.
Kobasew lit the lamp four a five-goal advantage 5-0 with eight minutes left in the third period.
“It’s a tight race,” Kobasew said. “Every win helps, but at the end of the night you look at the standings and most teams are winning. You’ve got to do that on a consistent basis and hopefully
we can continue that.”
Finally, Havlat found the back of the net for his second goal of the game with three minutes left to account for the final scoring 6-0.
Tags: