Flames top Canucks in NHL regular-season finale

CALGARY --The NHL regular season ended Wednesday when the Calgary Flames defeated the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, Brett Ritchie had a goal and two assists, and Derek Ryan had three assists for Calgary (26-27-3), which won four of its final five games. Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves.
"I know these games kind of didn't really mean much in the standings and all that, but everyone's still working hard, still trying to play the right way," Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane said. "It's good that we're getting those points and that we're winning these games here. It's good and we've got to keep building on it."

Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller scored, and Braden Holtby made 22 saves for Vancouver (23-29-4), which split its final four games.
"We had a pretty heavy schedule to start the year and went through our whole COVID thing (five games postponed), definitely a tough year for everyone," Canucks forward Brock Boeser said. "We all need to reset this summer, enjoy our summer, and get back to work."
It was the last of three games between the teams to finish the season; the Flames won 6-5 in overtime on Sunday and the Canucks won 4-2 on Tuesday, each in Vancouver.

Neither team qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs; Calgary finished fifth in the seven-team Scotia North Division and Vancouver was last. The top four teams in the Canada-based division qualified
"It wasn't just the last four games," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "I give them credit the last three or four weeks, to be quite honest. We had some pretty significant injuries.
"We probably could have packed it in then. I told the players I give them credit. It certainly wasn't the way they envisioned their season, but the way they played the last six weeks, if they had [played like that] the whole year they would've been a playoff team."
The Canucks played 19 games in the final 32 days to close their schedule after going more than three weeks between games because of a COVID-19 outbreak.
"It's really hard to evaluate this year with how much we had to go through as a team," Miller said. "I think getting a little normality back and having our injured guys back will make us a lot better team at the end of the day. There's not much between our team and the playoff [teams] in the North Division this year."

Tkachuk scored in his fifth straight game, on a setup by Johnny Gaudreau, to put Calgary up 1-0 at 7:41 of the first period.
Dillon Dube extended the lead to 2-0 at 12:16 when he slid a backhand five-hole.
Mangiapane scored on a rebound to give the Flames a 3-0 lead at 16:18. It was his 18th goal in 56 games this season to set an NHL career high. He scored 17 goals in 68 games last season.
"Obviously disappointing that our season ends there, but it's nice to get a new career-high there and hopefully next year I can keep building on it," he said. "You always want to improve every year. Hopefully next year I build on it and keep continuing to grow."
Ritchie made it 4-0 with a wrist shot at 5:14 of the second period.
Horvat cut it to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 8:34 when he one-timed a pass from Boeser, and Miller made it 4-2 when he tipped Boeser's point shot at 9:32.
Tkachuk scored on a pass from Gaudreau to put the Flames up 5-2 at 10:29. Gaudreau ended the season with 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in a five-game point streak, and 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in his final 16 games.
Mikael Backlund scored at 14:31 of the second, but the Canucks used a coach's challenge for offside and the call on the ice was overturned.
Connor Mackey scored on a rebound for his first NHL goal in his sixth game at 3:29 of the third period for the 6-2 final.
"I definitely have envisioned that," Mackey said. "It's pretty special, right? You envision a full house and scoring a nice goal and the crowd is going crazy, but I'll take what I can get. It was a great confidence booster going into the summer."
NOTES: Dube left the game after being hit by Canucks defenseman Travis Hamonic in the second period and did not return because of concussion protocol. ... Flames forward Matthew Phillips, a Calgary native, had two shots on goal in 14:19 of ice time in his NHL debut. ... Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler and forward Tanner Pearson (personal) were each a healthy scratch.