Montreal Canadiens goalie Cayden Primeau, left, makes a save against Calgary Flames' Blake Coleman during the first period of NHL action in Calgary on Saturday, March 16, 2024.Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press
Mikael Backlund scored twice and had an assist for the Calgary Flames in a 5-2 win Saturday over the visiting Montreal Canadiens.
Nazem Kadri had a goal and an assist, and Martin Pospisil and Daniil Miromanov also scored for Calgary (33-29-5). The Flames moved to six points back of the idle Vegas Golden Knights for the Western Conference’s final wild-card spot.
The Flames remained in distant playoff contention with 15 games remaining in their regular season, but they were racing both the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues to supplant the Knights.
Dustin Wolf made 36 saves for his second straight win since Calgary’s No. 1 goalie, Jacob Markstrom, was labelled day-to-day Tuesday with a lower-body injury.
Flames defenceman Mackenzie Weegar contributed three assists and winger Jonathan Huberdeau had two.
David Savard and Cole Caufield scored for Montreal (25-31-11), which was without head coach Martin St. Louis at the Saddledome.
The Canadiens announced just over an hour before puck drop that St. Louis will be absent from the team indefinitely because of family reasons, and that assistant Trevor Letowski will serve as head coach.
Montreal’s starting goalie Cayden Primeau turned away 23 of 28 shots in the loss.
The visitors trailed 3-2 heading into the third period, when Calgary’s Kadri and Miromanov scored in the first four minutes.
Miromanov collected his second in the five games since he was acquired from Vegas at the trade deadline by converting a rebound at 3:54.
Kadri scored a power-play goal 61 seconds into the third when Juraj Slafkovsky served a goalie interference minor.
After winning an offensive-zone faceoff, Kadri dropped toward the net while the puck cycled high and shovelled the puck by Primeau on a Huberdeau pass.
Montreal’s Savard made it a one-goal game with 95 seconds remaining in the second. He rifled an off-speed one-timer from just inside the blue line to beat Wolf stick side.
Calgary led 3-0 at 7:41. An unchecked Huberdeau on Montreal’s doorstep dished to Pospisil driving the net.
But Caufield put the visitors on the scoreboard at 10:34. He one-timed a cross-ice feed from Nick Suzuki over Wolf’s outstretched pad for his first goal since Feb. 15.
Backlund scored his second goal 11 seconds into the period. Primeau sprawled trying to clear the puck, which left an open net for Calgary’s captain to convert Blake Comeau’s backhand feed from behind the goal line.
The hosts were outshot 15-9 in the opening period, but emerged with a 1-0 lead. With 20 seconds remaining in Kaiden Guhle’s hooking penalty, Backlund tipped a Weegar shot by Primeau’s stick at 16:23.
With his 199th and 200th career goals Saturday, Backlund became the second Swedish-born skater in Flames history to reach 200, joining Kent Nilsson (229). The Flames’ captain also became the 11th player in franchise history with 200 goals.
Former Calgary Flames captain Lanny McDonald received a standing ovation when the Saddledome’s video board panned to the Hockey Hall of Famer standing and waving in the crowd.
The 71-year-old spent time in hospital in February because of a cardiac event he suffered in Calgary’s airport upon return from the NHL all-star game in Toronto.