Wild’s once-clear playoff road charred by Flames

CALGARY Alberta One of the various often-repeated truisms of hockey says that trying to end another group s season is among the hardest games you will play With a chance to clinch a playoff spot and put the Calgary Flames on the brink of elimination the Minnesota Wild identified that task harder than they could manage on Friday Just hours after they had posted a season-best eight goals in a home win over San Jose the Wild s offense ran dry in Alberta as Calgary led from start to finish winning - and ensuring that Minnesota s postseason plans will have to wait Minnesota Wild s Frederick Gaudreau checks Calgary Flames Brayden Pachal during the second period of an NHL hockey contest in Calgary Alberta Friday April Jeff McIntosh The Canadian Press via AP Dustin Wolf the lanky northern California kid who has been Calgary s mainstay as a rookie goalie needed to stop just shots to grab the two points that pulled the Flames within three of Minnesota in the Western Conference standings Calgary has a match in hand as well Yakov Trenin spoiled the Calgary shutout with left in a match that was already decided and Minnesota got an extra-attacker goal from Gustav Nyquist but could not close the gap Wild coach John Hynes stated this is two games in a row where the association has not played to its identity San Jose contest was a little bit of a pond hockey match for us and then tonight we were the second the majority competitive gang on the ice So that s not really who we are and what we ve been but we ve got to make sure that that s gonna be different on the morrow night he commented referencing the looming road battle at Vancouver With two regular-season games remaining the Wild still control their own playoff destiny but are now at essential peril of an eighth-place finish which would mean a playoff visit to conference-leading Winnipeg starting next week Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson had saves for the Wild before giving way to Marc-Andre Fleury with to play Gustavsson will start Saturday s battle in Vancouver with Minnesota in even more desperate need of points And in an all-too-familiar story this season the Wild lost another member of note to injury as captain Jared Spurgeon missed the majority of the second period returned for a sparse shifts in the third then left the championship before the final horn Calgary which won all three of its games versus the Wild this season got a pair of second-period goals to break open a tight challenge and has two of its remaining three games at home After the Wild survived a insufficient early scares Calgary broke through after Gustavsson stopped a long-range shot Mikael Backlund flipped the rebound over the goalie s blocker giving the Flames a - lead at the end of the first period Spurgeon was injured on his opening shift of the second and then things got worse for the visitors when Yegor Sharangovich deflected a puck past Gustavsson on the stick side for a - Flames lead The deficit grew to three when Calgary scored on the competition s first power play There s just times that we have to play simple and we don t do it and it bites us We didn t generate a lot of shots to the net We passed up things in the second where maybe we could have detected momentum veteran wing Marcus Foligno declared That s the thing I think sometimes we kill ourselves on momentum There s a time in the match where you can turn it around and we choose a harder play or not thinking quicker and tonight it bit us Minnesota s best chance to chip away came late in the second when Calgary was called for consecutive penalties giving the Wild nearly straight minutes of man advantage But they managed just two shots on Wolf in that span and headed to the second intermission still down by three The Wild had shots by Vinnie Hinostroza and Joel Eriksson Ek strike posts in the period but both slid harmlessly away The Wild pressured Wolf to start the third but a fumbled puck at the blue line led to a Calgary breakaway which made it - and prompted the goalie change Trenin got a late breakaway goal past Wolf Fleury in what could be his final NHL regular-season appearance stopped the three shots he faced Calgary which came into the contest leading the NHL with a whopping losses either in overtime or in a shootout still clings to hope of making the playoffs but the Flames cannot help but lament all of those anticipated points missed in the regular season s first games The meeting in November is just as vital to make sure we finish as it is now We ve got zero runway left now Calgary coach Ryan Huska explained before the match You want them to learn to prepare and treat every event as the the greater part vital of the year You go into the year wanting to play playoff hockey not wanting to play crucial games at this time of year Hynes commented he was unsure of the status of Spurgeon who appeared to get hit in the throat by a puck for Saturday s tournament Spurgeon leaned on Sharangovich during a stoppage of play before making his way to the bench early in the second It was sort of serious I was not understanding what he was saying to me I thinks it s my English He just catched me Sharangovich stated I feel bad because I should help him He held me and the referee helped him after After I required what happened and he stated he lost his breath Minnesota played a third consecutive challenge without defenseman Jake Middleton who is on the road trip but has not returned to the lineup since going headfirst into the end boards in a road loss to the New York Islanders a week ago Hynes disclosed Middleton is a possibility to return for the Vancouver competition Related Articles Isaac Howard bringing the Hobey to Hudson With playoffs on the line Wild bracing for intensity in Calgary Tricks and treats as Wild sink Sharks for vital playoff points Kaprizov Eriksson Ek set to make long-awaited returns to the Wild lineup Wild executive Ray Shero dies at age