Flames beat Minnesota to prevent Wild from clinching playoff spot

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Nazem Kadri scored his 32nd goal of the season on a second-period power play and the Calgary Flames beat Minnesota 4-2 on Friday night to prevent the Wild from clinching a playoff spot Friday night.

Minnesota and St. Louis hold the two Western Conference wild-card spot, three points ahead of Calgary.

Mikael Backlund, Yegor Sharangovich and Ryan Lomberg also scored as Calgary built a 4-0 lead. Dustin Wolf made 16 saves, allowing only late goals to Yakov Trenin and Gustav Nyquist.

Filip Gustavsson stopped 25 shots for Minnesota before giving way to Marc-Andre Fleury after allowing Lomberg’s goal at 7:20 of the third.

Takeaways

Wild: Minnesota has lost six straight on the road (0-4-2).

Flames: Calgary has points in five straight games (3-0-2).

Key moment

Calgary gave itself some rare breathing room early in the second period when Sharangovich and Kadri scored less than two minutes apart to open up a 3-0 lead.

Key stat

Calgary swept the season series with the Wild for the first time since 2016-17.

Up next

The Wild are at Vancouver on Saturday night, then will close the regular season at home Tuesday night against Anaheim. The Flames host San Jose on Sunday night.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl