Wild 3, Flames 0
Niklas Backstrom turned aside 41 shots as the Minnesota Wild fashioned their first five-game winning streak in nearly two years, blanking the host Calgary Flames 3-0 Tuesday night.
Despite teammate Josh Harding earning the last four wins in goal, the Wild turned to Backstrom on Tuesday because of his track record against Calgary. He didn't disappoint, recording his first shutout of the season while improving to 9-1-1 with a 1.00 goals-against average in his 12 games versus the Flames.
Backstrom stood on his head in a one-sided first period that saw the Flames outshoot the Wild 15-5 but wind up trailing by a goal. Darroll Powe's redirection of a Nick Johnson shot deflected off the skate of a Calgary player and beat Miikka Kiprusoff at 5:35 for his first goal in a Minnesota uniform.
Dany Heatley extended the advantage 12:47 into the second period, finishing off a three-way passing play by directing the puck past Kiprusoff with Minnesota enjoying a man advantage.
Less than a minute later, Johnson was given a major for headbutting and a match penalty after his head made contact with the Flames captain. The Flames failed to take advantage of the lengthy power play, and trailed 2-0 despite holding a 27-14 edge in shots through two periods.
Guillaume Latendresse had the lone goal of the third period, an empty-netter with 38 seconds remaining.
The victory gives Minnesota its first five-game winning streak since Nov. 27-Dec. 5, 2009.