Mammoth lose to Flames, fail to pad wild-card lead

CALGARY -- The Utah Mammoth failed to pad their lead for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday.

Utah remained three points ahead of the Los Angeles Kings, who have a game in hand.

“I didn’t like the way we approached our game in the sense that we had to be ready to grind, get inside and to work extremely hard for every inch,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “I don’t think our emotion, our focus was at the right place, and it showed everywhere from everybody. I’m not blaming anybody. Coaches, players, we need to be better. We need to grind.

“I like the way Calgary played today. They came to work and they played really good, and that’s the kind of adversity we want, and we need to have the right answer next time.”

Brayden Pachal had a goal and two assists for his first three-point NHL game, and Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames (33-38-9), who had lost three in a row (0-2-1). Dustin Wolf made 28 saves.

“I thought we played well tonight,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “We had a long road trip, came back and you never know what it’s going to look like, but I thought the guys did a good job.”

Lawson Crouse scored for the Mammoth (42-32-6), who have lost two in a row after winning their previous five. Vitek Vanecek made 19 saves.

“It’s hard to come into this building and play here. I know it firsthand,” said defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, who was acquired by Utah in a trade with Calgary on March 4. "Both teams had a tough schedule coming into this one, whoever was the more prepared team in that first period had a really good chance to win this game. We didn’t come out prepared and connected and ready to compete.”

Coronato put the Flames up 1-0 at 7:06 of the first period. Vanecek went to play the puck behind his net, but he whiffed on a backhand pass, allowing Coronato to skate into it and score on a wraparound.

Zary extended the lead to 2-0 at 8:27. Vanecek made a left pad save on Zary’s initial rebound attempt before the puck deflected in off the forward’s right skate.

“I actually thought it was going to get called back. I really did,” Huska said. “To me it looked like a kick. We’ll take it, though.”

Backlund made it 3-0 at 6:01 of the third period when he tapped in a loose puck in the crease. Blake Coleman took the initial shot on a partial break before sliding into the net and bumping Vanecek out of position.

Utah challenged the play for goaltender interference, but the call stood after a video review.

Pachal pushed the lead to 4-0 at 9:10. He skated into a pass from Aydar Suniev and scored with a one-timer from the point past Vanecek, who was screened on the play. The assist was Suniev’s first NHL point.

“It felt good,” Pachal said. “Sometimes you just get those bounces. It seems like a lot of this season I haven’t got those bounces, so (I’m) saving it, I guess.

“I think we fed off the crowd tonight. Coming home is obviously important for us. We want to make sure that we put on a show for our fans and end the season on a good note.”

Crouse made it 4-1 at 11:20. He took a pass from Clayton Keller and scored with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Wolf to the short side. Keller extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, 13 assists).

“We’ve got to learn from it, flush it,” Weegar said. “We’ve got two really important games coming up (against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday and the St. Louis Blues on Thursday). These next two games, it’s playoff hockey, and it’s the most important two games all season, and we have to be willing to grind it out because in the playoffs, playing like that (against the Flames) is not going to work.”

NOTES: Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka didn’t dress due to an undisclosed injury. Vanecek was backed up by Matt Villalta, who was recalled from Tucson of the American Hockey League earlier on Sunday. ... Mammoth forward Dylan Guenther and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev had their point streaks end at seven games.