Cam Talbot stands tall to fuel Flames past faltering Wild for 4th straight win
Johnny Gaudreau scored the winning goal for the Calgary Flames in a 2-1 win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
Derek Ryan also scored for the Flames (24-17-5) in their fourth win in a row.
Calgary remained tied for third in the Pacific Division with the Edmonton Oilers, who were 4-2 winners Thursday in Montreal.
The Flames are at home to the Oilers on Saturday.
Calgary goaltender Cam Talbot made 42 saves for back-to-back wins. He repelled 32 shots in Tuesday’s 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Mats Zuccarello countered for the Wild (20-16-6), who are 1-3-1 in their last five.
Goaltender Alex Stalock stopped 35 saves in the loss and earned an assist on Zuccarello’s goal.
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Gaudreau scored the eventual game winner at 9:38 of the second period on a give-and-go with Sean Monahan.
Gaudreau corralled Monahan’s pass with his right skate blade and beat Stalock with a quick release wrister from the slot.
Trailing 1-0 and outshot 17-14 after the first period, Zuccarello pulled the visitors even 38 seconds into the second.
From behind his own net, Stalock whipped the puck up ice to Zuccarello at Calgary’s blue-line for a breakaway.
The Norwegian beat Talbot with a high wrist shot. Stalock collected his fourth career assist.
Ryan deflected a Noah Hanifin slapshot upstairs for a power-play goal at 4:39 of the opening period.
The Wild are at home to the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.
