Calgary Flames goaltender Dan Vladar makes a save against the Minnesota Wild in the second period at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild won 3-2 in a shootout on Dec. 14, 2023.Matt Blewett/Reuters
Mats Zuccarello and Matt Boldy scored in the shootout to lift the Minnesota Wild over the Calgary Flames 3-2 on Thursday night.
Boldy and Marco Rossi scored in regulation for Minnesota, which is now 6-2 since John Hynes took over as coach for Dean Evason. Filip Gustavsson stopped 36 shots in goal for the Wild.
“It’s just good to win,” Boldy said. “You’ve got a group of guys that work hard every night. Lotta desperation to win to get that kind of streak going and stuff like that, so a lot of credit to other guys.”
Yegor Sharangovich and Blake Coleman scored, while Dan Vladar made 30 saves for the Flames, who are 1-5-1 in their last seven games.
Sharangovich also scored in the shootout, but Gustavsson stopped Nazem Kadri as the fourth shooter to preserve the win.
“This was a good game, probably for both sides, I would say,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “I thought we had a slow first 10 minutes but then I liked our game from that point forward. I felt like we deserved the extra point tonight.”
Boldy has seven goals and two assists in the eight games since Hynes took control. He scored his eighth goal of the season in the first period.
Sharangovich is on his own scoring streak, scoring for the fourth straight game. He scored on the power play in the second, giving him five goals in the past four games.
Calgary took a lead in the third when Coleman’s pass to Sharangovich went off defenceman Brock Faber’s skate and into the goal. Coleman was credited with his ninth goal of the season and it was the sixth short-handed goal of the season for the Flames, which is tied for the third-most in the NHL.
But Minnesota answered just 45 seconds later when Rossi one-timed a long rebound from Vladar to score for the second game in a row. Rossi has 10 goals, which is second behind Connor Bedard among NHL rookies.
“I didn’t really hit it good,” Rossi said. “I fanned on it, but I’ll take that.”
Both teams were missing important pieces of their defensive core.
Minnesota placed Jonas Brodin on long-term injured reserve a day earlier with an upper-body injury and captain Jared Spurgeon was held out with a lower-body injury. Brodin was seen in pictures on social media with a cast on his right wrist/arm at a team function. Spurgeon is considered day-to-day.
“Thought it was a really strong team game for us,” Hynes said. “Injuries are part of the league. When you can play a really compact, strong team game, it gives you the best chance to win. Our D-core played really well, we played well as a five-man unit. I think when you can play with structure, everybody contributes, it gives you a chance to win.”
Chris Tanev, an assistant captain for Calgary, missed his second straight game with an upper-body injury and is considered day-to-day.
Up next
Flames: Return home against Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Wild: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.