Beecher gets 1st multigoal game, Flames hold off Devils

NEWARK, N.J. -- John Beecher had the first multigoal game of his NHL career, and the Calgary Flames held on for a 5-4 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Thursday.

"It's been a bit since I've seen one go in the net, so it's always exciting when you can pot one and help the team in that aspect, and then getting the second one was just kind of a cherry on top," Beecher said. "I thought the boys played great and battled hard for 60 minutes."

Mikael Backlund scored to reach 600 career points and Dustin Wolf made 28 saves for the Flames (26-32-7), who had lost six of their past seven games (1-5-1).

"I'm happy for [Backlund]," Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. "That's a great milestone for a guy that's given a lot to our organization, so it's really nice to see him score that tonight."

Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes each had a goal and an assist, and Jesper Bratt had two assists for the Devils (32-31-2), who have lost two straight after four wins a row and are 3-2-0 five games into a Devils record seven-game homestand. Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves in his seventh straight start.

"[When] you give up five, you dig yourself a big hole, so just a tough game out of us," Jack Hughes said. "I know my line was on for the first four goals, so that's on us. Just not a great night out of us, and it is what it is."

Beecher gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 5:04 of the first period with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle, getting the pass from Matvei Gridin to break out on a 2-on-1 with Matt Coronato.

"I felt like we just did a good job keeping things simple," Beecher said. "When the play was there to make it, we tried to execute, but just trying to play north-south hockey and take care of the defensive zone first."

Kevin Bahl pushed it to 2-0 on a slap shot from the left point that deflected off the stick of Devils forward Paul Cotter in the left circle at 14:07.

Maxim Tsyplakov scored his first goal with the Devils in his 11th game on a snap shot from the right hashmarks to pull New Jersey within 2-1 at 16:14. Tsyplakov was acquired in a trade with the New York Islanders in exchange for Ondrej Palat on Jan. 27.

Beecher scored his second of the game, a short-handed goal, to give Calgary a 3-1 lead 54 seconds into the second period. He stole the puck in the neutral zone, skated down the right side, and banked a wrist shot off Markstrom before putting his own rebound in between Markstrom's left skate and the right post.

Just 42 seconds later, Simon Nemec pulled the Devils within 3-2 at 1:36 with a power-play goal on a rebound after Luke Hughes split two defenders and took the initial shot from the slot.

Yegor Sharangovich scored on the backhand from the slot off a 2-on-1 with Ryan Strome at 16:48 to give the Flames a 4-2 lead.

Backlund made it 5-2 on a wrist shot from the slot at 4:10 of the third period. Backlund has 600 points (229 goals, 371 assists) in 1,131 games, all with the Flames.

"I thought the boys have been battling hard and been grinding, and so it's nice to get a win," Backlund said. "It feels good to score and help the team. To score on (Sweden-born) Markstrom and at the same time get to 600 was nice."

Jack Hughes made it 5-3 at 9:38. Hughes hopped on the ice with fresh legs and snapped a shot past Wolf far side. The Bratt-Jack Hughes-Connor Brown line combined for four points (one goal, three assists) and a minus-7 rating.

"That line wasn't clean on offense, and when it was time to defend, they just didn't defend well," New Jersey coach Sheldon Keefe said.  

Luke Hughes scored a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the high slot with Markstrom pulled for a 6-on-4 advantage for the 5-4 final at 19:56.

"We want to play the right way every game, and come out and play Flames style," Backlund said. "That's competing hard, playing the right way. That's our main focus every night."

NOTES: Backlund tied Kent Nilsson (229 goals) for the fifth most goals in Flames franchise history. He's also the sixth with 600 career points. ... Calgary leads the NHL with 11 short-handed goals. ... Nemec became the fifth different Devils defenseman in the past 20 years with at least 10 goals in a season. The last to achieve the feat was Dougie Hamilton (22 in 2022-23). ... Bahl spent four seasons with the Devils (2020-24) and Sharangovich spent three seasons with the Devils (2020-23).