Rasmus Andersson scored the game-winner at 15:57 of the third period and added two assists as the Calgary Flames overcame a disastrous start in a 5-3 comeback win over the Minnesota Wild on Wednesday.
Tyler Toffoli with a pair, including an empty netter, Nazem Kadri and Blake Coleman also scored for Calgary (13-10-3). Elias Lindholm had three assists.
Minnesota Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, left, skates away as Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman, center right, celebrates his goal with teammates during second period NHL hockey action in Calgary, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
The Flames have won three games in a row and earned eight points on their five-game homestand.
Kirill Kaprizov extended his scoring streak to seven games for the Wild – tops in the league this season. Mason Shaw and Jon Merrill also scored for Minnesota (13-10-2), which saw its four-game winning streak end.
Dan Vladar made his sixth start in the last eight games and gave up two goals on his first three hits. He settled in and finished with 25 strikeouts for his fourth straight win, improving to 5-4-1 on the season.
Marc-Andre Fleury had 22 saves on the other end. His record fell to 9-6-1.
READ MORE: Zack Kassian returns to Edmonton with Coyotes to face Oilers
Minnesota trailed 3-2 when they tied it at 15:45 when Merrill’s point shot deflected off the stick of Flames defenseman Chris Tanev.
But just 12 seconds later, a Wild turnover behind their net landed on the stick of Andersson, who cut across the crease and used his backhand to put the puck just inside the goal post.
Kaprizov entered the game on an offensive tear with 19 points in his last dozen games. He extended his hitting streak to 13 games when he turned in a Matt Dumba layup just 1:27 into the game.
Both of Kaprizov’s streaks are franchise records.
Less than a minute later, the Wild broke out on a 3-on-1 with Shaw one-timer Connor Dewar’s cross-ice pass past Vladar.
But the Flames overcame the Wild’s fast start to the first period with an even better start to the second.
On a power play that carried over from the first period, Kadri got Calgary on the scoreboard just 16 seconds into the second period when he redirected Lindholm’s hard pass past Fleury.
Coleman tied the game after a goalmouth scramble at 1:37.
The Flames took the lead at 3:11 with another power play goal and another layup. Toffoli got a piece of Andersson’s heavy slap shot from the blue line.
The Wild had three power play opportunities later in the period, but were stymied by the Flames’ penalty. Minnesota was 8-for-19 with the man advantage over the last six games.
Blown lead and return
Losing a game in which they scored the first goal and led after the first period is a rarity for the Wild.
Minnesota entered the game with an 8-1-2 mark when scoring first and an 8-0-1 record when leading after 20 minutes.
Calgary improved to 4-6-1 when giving up the first goal and 3-6-2 when trailing after the first period.
Power surge
After a seven-game stretch where the Flames were just 2-for-21, they have scored two goals in each of the past two games, going a combined 4-for-9 over that span.
The Flames open a three-game road trip against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
