Backlund lifts Flames with OT winner
Calgary beats Detroit 3-2 for 6th straight victory
CALGARY — Mikael Backlund scored in overtime as the Calgary Flames bounced back from giving up a goal with 1.8 seconds left in the third period to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 on Friday night.
Calgary had two chances earlier to win it in overtime. On a twoon-one, Michael Frolik’s stick broke as he tried to one-time a pass from Backlund in the open side. On a breakaway shortly after, Johnny Gaudreau lost control of the puck after a deke left him with an empty net.
But Backlund wouldn’t waste the third chance, blasting a shot past Petr Mrazek off the wing at 3:56.
Kris Versteeg and Matthew Tkachuk scored for Calgary (3526-4) in regulation time. The Flames are six points up on Los Angeles and move seven points ahead of St. Louis for the first wild card spot in the West.
Brian Elliott made 35 saves to help the Flames to their sixth win in a row.
Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit (25-26-11). The Red Wings opened the night 10 points out of a playoff spot and sit last in the Eastern Conference. Elliott’s resurgence continued. After a forgettable start to the season in which he lost his starting job for a while to Chad Johnson, the veteran has been much better lately, giving Calgary the calibre of goaltending they were expecting when they acquired him from the St. Louis Blues last June.
In starting 11 of the last 14 games, Elliott has gone 9-1-1 over that stretch with a .925 save percentage.
JETS 3, BLUES 0
WINNIPEG — Connor Hellebuyck turned away all 29 shots he faced for his fourth shutout of the season in the Winnipeg Jets’ 3-0 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday.
Blake Wheeler scored twice, including the winner on a first-period power play, as the Jets (29-30-6) handed the Blues (3127-5) their fifth-consecutive loss. Bryan Little added an empty-netter for his 18th of the season.
Hellebuyck improved his record to 21-15-3 in his ninth straight start in goal for the Jets. Blues netminder Carter Hutton made 37 saves to fall to 9-8-2 on the year.
DUCKS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Rickard Rakell scored twice, Jonathan Bernier made 37 saves and the Anaheim Ducks returned from their bye week with a 5-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night.
Sami Vatanen and Jakob Silfverberg also scored to help the Ducks get their third straight win at home and maintain a two-point lead over Calgary for third in the Pacific Division. Patrick Eaves added an empty-net goal with 1:14 remaining for his first since being acquired from Dallas.
Nazem Kadri scored on the power play, Zach Hyman added his ninth goal of the season and Curtis McElhinney made 31 saves as the Maple Leafs dropped their fifth in a row.