CALGARY, Alberta — The Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames are neighbors in the Western Conference race, but a mismatch played out when the two teams squared off for the first time this season.
Calgary stumped the Wild 7-3 on Saturday at Scotiabank Saddledome, sending the Wild home from a week-long Canadian road trip on a three-game losing streak.
Overall, the Wild has dropped five of its last six.
As for the Flames, they've won 11 of their past 12 games with this a resounding bounce back after they had their 10-game tear snapped on Thursday in a 7-1 blowout by the Vancouver Canucks.
But Calgary reemerged as one of the most dominant lineups in the West, taking over after an early goal by the Wild.
Frederick Gaudreau tipped in a Jon Merrill shot 1 minute, 36 seconds into the game for Gaudreau's second goal in as many games and first career goal streak; Kevin Fiala's assist on the play extended his point streak to four games.
But the Flames cruised after that, scoring three times in the first period en route to an 18-4 shot advantage.
Tyler Toffoli was left all alone to capitalize on a rising shot at 10:29 and then 1:20 later, Matthew Tkachuk buried his own rebound on the power play. Calgary went 2-for-5, and the Wild was 0-for-2.
Meanwhile, the Wild went 11:01 in between shots. But the Flames didn't just have the edge in puck possession; Calgary was also the more physical team.
Before the first ended, the Flames added another goal when Erik Gudbranson wound up from the point at 17:42.
In the second, the Wild upped its offensive pressure but didn't get any closer to Calgary. And that lack of execution stung, with the Flames tacking on two goals late in the period.
Andrew Mangiapane pounced on a rebound with 3:16 remaining, and then Blake Coleman had a shorthanded breakaway at 19:19. That was the second shorthanded goal given up by the Wild this season.
The Wild finally started to chip away at its deficit in the third period, with goals by Nick Bjugstad (13:25) and Kirill Kaprizov (14:35), before Tkachuk dumped the puck into an empty net on the power play with 1:54 to go. Toffoli also had an empty-netter at 19:18.
Kaapo Kahkonen finished with 28 saves, and Jacob Markstrom had 22 for Calgary.
