Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves to help the visiting Calgary Flames beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 on Saturday for Calgary’s third consecutive win.
Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund each had a goal and an assist and Nazem Kadri also scored for Calgary, which moved within two points of the Edmonton Oilers and Seattle Kraken, who are tied for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Chandler Stephenson scored a goal and Logan Thompson finished with 23 saves for Vegas, which lost for the eighth time in its last 11 games.
Calgary scored twice in the span of 1:58 in the middle of the first period to take a 2-0 lead.
Coleman got the first goal on a power play after Backlund’s shot bounced off of him in front of the crease. Coleman then picked up the rebound and slid it under Thompson’s pad for his 19th goal of the season.
Kadri followed with his 14th goal when he drove to the front of the net and knocked in a rebound off Connor Zary’s shot.
Vegas had a chance to cut into the lead early in the second period. but shots by Stephenson and Ivan Barbashev hit the crossbar.
The Flames extended the lead to 3-0 at the 17:09 mark when Andrew Mangiapane threaded a pass to Backlund cutting down the slot between two Golden Knights defensemen. Backlund then put a backhand shot past Thompson’s blocker side for his 10th goal of the season.
The Golden Knights, shut out for the first two periods for the third straight game, cut it to 3-1 midway through the third period when Stephenson roofed a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle over Markstrom’s left shoulder for his first goal in 11 games.
Vegas pulled Thompson for an extra attacker with 1:35 remaining, but Markstrom turned away all five Golden Knights shots on goal, including one by Barbashev that trickled through his pads but was swept away from the goal line by defenseman Chris Tanev.
–Field Level Media
