Wild 5, Flames 3
CALGARY, Alberta -- Right winger Jason Pominville and left winger Erik Haula had a goal and an assist each to lead the Minnesota Wild to a 5-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Center Nino Niederreiter chipped in with two assists to give the line six points as the Wild (25-22-10) won their second straight game under interim head coach John Torchetti.
Center Mikko Koivu also had a goal and an assist, while left winger Jason Zucker and Charlie Coyle also scored.
Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves to record his 20th win of the season.
Defenseman Deryk Engelland, right winger David Jones and center Mikael Backlund scored for the Flames (25-28-3), who have lost three straight games.
Appearing in his sixth straight game, Flames goalie Jonas Hiller stopped 19 of 23 shots he faced in a losing cause.
Trailing by a pair early in the third period, center Joe Colborne rang a shot off the post behind Dubnyk during a man advantage for the Flames.
Backlund pulled the Flames within a goal at 15:49 of the third when he kicked a pass from defenseman TJ Brodie onto his stick for an easy tap-in at the side of the net.
Coyle then scored into an empty net with 42.8 seconds remaining to secure the win for the Wild.
Dubnyk had to be sharp in the early going as he stopped a backhand shot from the slot by Flames center Sean Monahan.
Looking to give his team a boost, Engelland leveled Wild center Mikael Granlund with a big check into the boards behind the Calgary net at the midway mark of the opening period.
On the next shift, it was the Wild that responded as Haula one-timed a nice pass from Pominville past Hiller to open the scoring.
Minnesota went up by a pair at 19:34 of the first on a shorthanded goal by Zucker, who made a nice move to cut around Flames rookie defenseman Jakub Nakladal before snapping a perfect shot to the top corner off the post and in behind Hiller.
The Wild extended its lead to 3-0 at 3:09 of the second during a two-man advantage when defenseman Ryan Suter's point shot deflected off Flames blue-liner Mark Giordano and then Koivu past Hiller. Wild left winger Zach Parise also had an assist to record his 600th NHL point.
Calgary then cut into Minnesota's lead with a pair of goals as Engelland scored his first in 56 games at 11:28 of the second before Jones notched his first in 15 contests just over five minutes later. Jones' shot from the slot hit Wild defenseman Mike Reilly's stick before deflecting off blue-liner Matt Dumba's face and into the net behind Dubnyk.
Pominville converted a nice feed from Haula at 18:16 of the second to put the Wild up 4-2 heading into the final frame.
Flames defenseman Ladislav Smid left the game late in the first period with an upper-body injury and didn't return.
NOTES: The Flames received bad news on two fronts Wednesday. The team announced that G Karri Ramo will miss the remainder of the season with a torn ACL and meniscus damage he sustained last Thursday during a game in San Jose against the Sharks, while NHL commissioner Gary Bettman upheld a 20-game suspension for D Dennis Wideman, who cross-checked a linesman to the ice during a Jan. 27 home game against the Nashville Predators. ... Flames D Kris Russell missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury, while C Lance Bouma and LW Brandon Bollig were also scratched. ... Minnesota scratched LW Chris Porter, G Niklas Backstrom and D Marco Scandella. ... The Wild wrap up their three-game road trip Thursday in Edmonton against the Oilers, while the Flames finish up their three-game homestand Friday against the Vancouver Canucks.