Flames 4, Wild 1
Flames 4, Wild 1: Defenseman Mark Cundari collected a goal and an assist in his NHL debut and Joey MacDonald stopped 34 shots as Calgary opened its season-ending four-game road trip with its third straight victory.
Mike Cammalleri had a goal and an assist and Mikael Backlund and Jiri Hudler also tallied for the Flames, who improved to 6-2-0 in their last eight contests.
Zach Parise scored his team-leading 17th goal and Niklas Backstrom made 20 saves for Minnesota, which is winless in its last five home games (0-4-1). Columbus skated to a 4-3 win over San Jose to pull even with the Wild in points for seventh place in the Western Conference. The Wild have a game in hand, however.
With the score knotted at 1-1 midway through the second period, Backstrom bobbled a rebound from a Lee Stempniak opportunity and Backlund flicked the bouncing puck into an open net. Cammalleri increased the advantage after drawing a holding penalty on Wild defenseman Tom Gilbert, flipping an awkward shot over Backstrom’s stacked pads with 7:20 remaining in the game..
Acquired in the trade that sent Jay Bouwmeester to St. Louis, Cundari fired a quick wrist shot from the right faceoff dot that found the top of the net with 6:23 remaining in the first period. Hudler’s empty-net tally was also scored with the man advantage as the Flames finished 3-for-3 on the power play.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Calgary D T.J. Brodie finished with two assists. ... Minnesota captain Mikko Koivu assisted on Parise's goal for his second point in 11 contests. ... The Flames travel to Nashville, St. Louis and Chicago to end their campaign, while Minnesota hosts Los Angeles and Edmonton before closing its regular season at Colorado.