Wild defeat Flames for fifth consecutive victory

CALGARY -- The Minnesota Wild won their fifth straight game, defeating the Calgary Flames 4-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Eric Staal,
Matt Read
, Ryan Suter and Ryan Donato scored, and Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves for the Wild (32-27-6), who remained one point ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Coyotes defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 earlier Saturday.
"That's just kind of the way the League is," Staal said. "It seems like you're never really out of it and never really ahead of the pack. It's really tight. When you're on the streak we're on right now you want to ride it as long as you can."
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Flames highlights]
Sean Monahan and Travis Hamonic scored, and Mike Smith made 19 saves for the Flames (41-17-7), whose seven-game winning streak ended. Calgary leads the San Jose Sharks by five points for first place in the Pacific Division and the Western Conference.
"We're in a good spot," Smith said. "We're in first place in the West. You're not going to win every game from here on out, even though you'd like to. It's just unrealistic."

Read was credited with an unassisted goal to put Minnesota up 2-1 at 4:13 of the third period. Smith got trapped behind his net after trying to play the puck, and Mark Jankowski's clearing attempt deflected back off Read's skate and in. It was Read's first goal in 13 NHL games dating back to March 20, 2018, when he played the Philadelphia Flyers.
"My goal coming up here is to help out as much as I can, if it's being smart defensively or penalty killing or whatever it is," said Read, who was recalled on an emergency basis Friday. "Just to be out there and do the right things to help the team win at the end of the day is my goal. Enjoy every second of it."
Suter made it 3-1 at 11:07 with a shot over Smith's pad on an odd-man rush.
Hamonic's shot from the right point went over Dubnyk's shoulder at 14:29 to cut the lead to 3-2. But Donato beat Smith through the five-hole with a slap shot from the high slot at 18:18 to make it 4-2.
"I know every game that we've played against these guys has been really close," Staal said. "It's been 2-1, 2-1, or 2-0, 2-1. Tonight was a close one again. Competitive hockey. We're just happy that right now we can get on the right side of it because we need the points a lot more than they do right now."
Staal scored on Minnesota's second shot of the game for a 1-0 lead at 3:17 of the first period. He took a pass from below the goal line from Jason Zucker and beat Smith.
Calgary's Austin Czarnik appeared to tie the game at 8:40, but Wild coach Bruce Boudreau successfully challenged that Flames forward Sam Bennett impaired Dubnyk's ability to defend his net, and the goal was disallowed.
Monahan completed a pretty passing play with Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano at 9:08 of the second period and tie the game 1-1.
"Anytime you lose, it (stinks)," Monahan said. "I thought we controlled a lot of the play tonight, but that's hockey. Sometimes that's how it works out."
The Flames retired the No. 12 of longtime captain Jarome Iginla prior to the game. He's the third player in Flames history to receive the honor along with No. 9 (Lanny McDonald) and No. 30 (Mike Vernon). The Flames wore Iginla's No. 12 during warmups.

They said it

"It's kind of felt like a year where there's been a lot of adversity for our group, and obviously some of the moves we made here at the deadline, but I think as a group we've kind of come together here in the last little while. Winning helps. It makes a difference with that. You want to ride that positive feeling and those vibes as long as you can because it's a very fine line in this League." -- Wild forward Eric Staal
"We've got to bear down on our chances. You're getting a lot of looks throughout a night. At this level, you've got to put the puck in the net and bear down. We've got to get to the net more here and capitalize on our chances." -- Flames forward Sean Monahan

Need to know

Donato, acquired in a trade from the Boston Bruins on Feb. 20, has had at least one point in his first five games with the Wild (two goals, five assists). Only Pavol Demitra (six games in 2006-07) had a longer point streak to begin a Minnesota career. … Dubnyk is 5-0-0 with a 1.59 goals-against average and .950 save percentage in his past five games. … Zucker has four points (two goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak. … Read was recalled because Zach Parise was unable to play because of a foot injury. ... Backlund has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past eight games.

What's next

Wild: Host the Nashville Predators on Sunday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV).
Flames: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, TSN4, NHL.TV).