Flames rounding into form after win over Wild

CALGARY, AB -- If it's art you're after, try the Prado in Madrid or MOMA in Manhattan.
"They're hardly ever pretty, these games,'' agreed goaltender Chad Johnson of facing the Minnesota Wild. "Kinda like playing New Jersey.
"It's all about patience. All about not getting too excited, too eager, and end up making a mistake that costs you.
"They thrive on that.
"They give you shots but they don't give up good looks. You have to work for everything.
"To be able to play with a team like that, play a similar game as they do, play tight, to keep going no matter what … with our group, those types of games are important."

So much of what's being preached down at the Scotiabank Saddledome, particularly in the absence of offensive lightning-rod Johnny Gaudreau, feeds into what the Wild are (in)famous for.
Structure has been an oft-repeated watchword among the Calgary Flames for a while now. And the lads from the Land of 10,000 Lakes have put a trademark on that brand.
And which was exactly, and predictably, required for a 3-2 Flames' shootout victory on Friday night.
"With that team,'' agreed centreman Mikael Backlund, "they're always tight games.
"They've very skilled. They've got good players. But you have to match their structure.
"I think we stuck with it all night. We had chances to win it in regulation. We found some holes.
"Knowing they play such a tight game, you have to make the easy play, get pucks in and get pucks out, put ourselves in good positions."
Heating up, centre Sean Monahan chalked up the shootout winner (after Kris Versteeg had bedeviled Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk with an absolutely filthy inside-out/forehand-to-backhand move).

"I had no idea what I was doing, to be honest,'' confessed Monahan. "I thought I was going to come in and go high blocker, but it wasn't there. He's pretty tall, so I just tried a little move and lucky enough something opened up."
On the final try, Johnson then stoned Charlie Coyle's long-reach stuff attempt with his left pad to end the suspense.
"I mean, I was just trying to be patient,'' said Johnson of his octopus-like deciding SO stop. "The last guy (Jason Pominville) went under my glove, over my pad so I tried to be conscious of that."
Forty-five or so minutes of duck-and-dodge, feint-and-swerve picked up over the final stages.
Calgary's penalty kill came up large to stave off a pair of poor Matthew Tkachuk minors over the closing 10 minutes. The Flames attack inundated Dubnyk with 13 third-period shots, many of the cutting-edge variety. But for all their territorial advantage, it was Wild captain Mikko Koivu who struck from the high slot at 7:40 after Johnson had produced three in-close stops to send the game into the extra five-minutes.
Undaunted, Calgary continued to surge forward to test Dubnyk four more times in OT.
At that, though, they still could've lost cruelly late in regulation for, with 10 seconds left, a seemingly-harmless outside shot ricocheted off Johnson and directly into the path of Minnesota left winger Jason Zucker.
"There was so much spin on it,'' sighed Johnson. "It just jumped off my stick. Honestly, there were a couple of those tonight. Just weird bounces." He rolled his eyes. "But with 10 seconds left … rarely do (pucks) come off me that hot.
"Thankfully I made the save."
"Yes, it got a little dicey at the end,'' acknowledged Flames' boss Glen Gulutzan. "To be honest with you, though, I thought that was one of the most complete games that we've played all season.
"I thought we had good chances. We played good structurally. We stuck to the game plan because we knew they'd only given up 31, 32 5-on-5 goals all season.
"We knew it was going to be grind and we embraced that type of game and I thought we executed it.
"We feel we're on the right track. We're just going to stick with it. We've got a lot of buy-in with a lot of our guys."
In pulling something out of eight of their last 11 fixtures - 15 of a possible 22 points - the Flames are slowly making headway on the pack directly in front of them in the Western Conference.
"It's just experience,'' reasoned Johnson. "New group. New systems. I said from Day One we were going to have some struggles the first month.

"We did the same thing last year in Buffalo with new coaches, new players. I think now we're more comfortable with each other. We're not hesitating, we're reacting.
"Guys are confident. We trust each other."
On Sunday, they can reach the .500 mark when the Anaheim Ducks come calling.
"At the start of the season,'' admitted Backlund, "we were all over the map.
"But as of late we've been better as a team and Johnny's been giving us some great efforts. Tonight, I thought we did exactly what we had to do. They're difficult to break down.
"You have to play a certain style. Sort of beat them at their own game."
After all, if it's art you're after …
"Pretty?'' counted Backlund with a job-well-done smile and a shrug. "I'd say winning is always pretty."