Matthew Tkachuk propels Flames to win

CALGARY -- Matthew Tkachuk continues to impress in his rookie season with the Calgary Flames.
Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, and Brian Elliott made 33 saves in a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

TJ Brodie and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary (29-26-3), who moved one point ahead of the Los Angeles Kings and into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. The Kings have three games in hand.
WATCH: All Flyers vs. Flames highlights
Tkachuk, 19, the No. 6 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, is second on the Flames with 36 points. Mikael Backlund leads with 39.
"I think at this point of the year if you're not going into every game knowing you have to win and playing that way, you're not going to make the playoffs," Tkachuk said. "We have to do that."

Nick Cousins scored and Michal Neuvirth made 20 saves for the Flyers (27-23-7), who have lost four of the past five games (1-3-1) and remain two points back of the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Toronto has played one fewer game.
"It's a tight race, but we've just got to try and get as many wins as you can," Philadelphia forward Jordan Weal said. "You can get all caught up when you look around the standings, but if you take care of your own game and you get your own wins, at the end of the season you'll be in the playoffs."
Brodie ended a 1-1 tie at 12:45 of the second period with a shot through Sam Bennett's screen and by Neuvirth.
"The young gun," Elliott said of Tkachuk. "He brings an energy to the rink. He's always smiling and always willing and wanting to learn. He's always asking questions and things like that."

Giordano scored into an empty net from in front of his own net with 38.4 seconds remaining to make it 3-1.
Cousins scored 1:30 into the game to put the Flyers up 1-0, and Tkachuk tied it on Calgary's second shot, at 4:28.
The Flyers, who entered having scored three times in the past four games, couldn't beat Elliott on a five-minute power play, including two full minutes at 5-on-3, when Alex Chiasson was given a major and a game-misconduct for spearing Cousins at 7:41 and Sean Monahan was called for delay-of-game at 10:33.
"I think they took momentum off of that," Cousins said. "You don't score there then it changes the whole outlook of the game. I thought they just got by there and obviously scored the next goal."

#

Goal of the game

Matt Read controlled a turnover in front of Calgary's net and pulled Elliott out of his crease before passing back across to Cousins, who tapped the puck across the goal line.

#

Save of the game

Cousins picked up Mark Streit's wide slap shot off the end boards and shot from just outside the edge of the crease, but Elliott came over to trap the puck between his arm and pad. The save came seconds after Chiasson's five-minute major expired. "He made a lot of big saves at key moments in the game," Brodie said. "He definitely stole that one for us."

#

Highlight of the game

Backlund picked up a loose puck after Dougie Hamilton's shot was blocked and centered a backhand pass across the top of the crease that Tkachuk redirected behind Neuvirth.

#

Unsung performance of the game

Flames forward Lance Bouma blocked two shots, one on an attempt by Shayne Gostisbehere with 3:32 remaining in the game, then cleared it to relieve pressure.

They said it

"We go up and down on wins and losses and I go up and down on how we play. We weren't that good tonight … we got some things we need to zip up." -- Flames coach Glen Gulutzan
"I think we'll continue to look at and talk about a lot of different things. It's not just that one area of our game that we're going to look at. I thought we played hard tonight. We again did a good job in terms of the number of opportunities against. We generated pretty good opportunities but we have to be a little bit better. We'll evaluate, not just the power play, but all the areas." -- Flyers coach Dave Hakstol

#

Need to know

The Flyers are 2-9-2 in their past 13 road games. ... Philadelphia has scored 16 goals in the past 12 games. ... The Flames play their next five games on the road. ... Flames forward Sean Monahan, at 22 years, 126 days old, remains one goal from becoming the youngest player in Flames history to score 100. Joe Nieuwendyk was 22 years, 185 days when he scored his 100th on March 14, 1989.

#

What's next

Flyers: At the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, CSN-PH, NHL.TV)
Flames: At the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, NHL.TV)