The Wild was edgier, had the puck more and generally made life on the ice tougher.
After getting trounced on Saturday, or as the Wild put it, "embarrassed," the team played more like the Flames in the rematch.
But Calgary was still better at its own game, cruising 5-1 on Tuesday in front of 16,998 at Xcel Energy Center to sweep the home-and-home and sink the Wild into a four-game slump.
This is the longest dry spell for the Wild since a season-long five-game losing streak Dec. 11-Jan. 1.
The Flames scored twice in the first period, including on the power play, but the play of the night was a second-period goal by Elias Lindholm.
Just before then, the Wild finally capitalized to cut its deficit in half.
A backhand pass by Kirill Kaprizov landed on Marcus Foligno's stick and as he was falling to the ice, Foligno one-timed the puck behind Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom 8 minutes, 32 seconds into the second.
The goal was Foligno's 18th of the season, while Kaprizov picked up his 40th assist, and the sequence shifted momentum in the Wild's favor — as evidenced by Foligno's fist pump and the roar of the crowd.
But only 21 seconds later, the Flames trumped all of it when Lindholm finished off a Tkachuk pass for both players' second points of the game.
Calgary went on to pad its lead in the third period, converting another power play goal on a Tyler Toffoli deflection at 33 seconds; the Flames ended up 2-for-3. And with 2:30 to go, Mikael Backlund flung the puck into an empty net.
But the most significant blow was Lindholm's quick response to Foligno's tally, a missed opportunity to find out what might have happened if the Wild spent more time within just a goal of Calgary.
Markstrom racked up 32 saves and at the other end, Cam Talbot turned aside 22 shots while suffering his fourth consecutive loss.
Although the result was the same, it was clear the Wild heeded the 7-3 debacle on Saturday in Calgary.
Even though the Flames opened the scoring just 1:12 into the first period on a one-timer from Tkachuk on the power play, the Wild was much more engaged than its previous first period and actually outshot Calgary through the initial 20 minutes.
Still, the team was behind, mired in a 2-0 hole after a puck bounced right to Andrew Mangiapane at 12:42 for a slam-dunk deposit.
Trailing, however, didn't dissuade the Wild's physical approach.
Despite being six inches shorter and 38 pounds lighter, Ryan Hartman dropped his gloves for an abbreviated fight with the Flames' Nikita Zadorov. And the Wild dished out a franchise-record 48 hits, eclipsing the 46 recorded in a 6-5 shootout win vs. Chicago on Jan.9, 2010.
Although the Wild had the advantage in aggressiveness, it fell short of Calgary in a more influential category and that's execution.
That disparity was clearest on the power play.
After blanking on two tries in the first period, the Wild was also unsuccessful on a third look in the second and then whiffed on a fourth chance in the third period.
The Flames also won the special-teams battle on Saturday, getting two of its goals on the power play while its penalty kill was a perfect 2-for-2.
For the Wild, this was a fourth consecutive game in which the power play has gone scoreless, a 0-for-13 rut.
