Andrei Kuzmenko tallied two goals and an assist and the Calgary Flames escaped with a 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night in Saint Paul, Minn.
Martin Pospisil finished with a goal and an assist for Calgary, which won its third game in a row. Rasmus Andersson and Clark Bishop added one goal apiece.
Mats Zuccarello had a goal and an assist to lead the Wild. Joel Eriksson Ek, Frederick Gaudreau and Marcus Foligno also scored.
Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf stopped 21 of 25 shots.
Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals on 29 shots.
Calgary opened the scoring on the power play with 13:02 to go in the first period. Kuzmenko redirected a shot from Nazem Kadri for his second goal in three games.
The Wild pulled even at 1-1 with 10:26 remaining in the first period. Zuccarello zipped a pass to Eriksson Ek, who fired a wrist shot above Wolf’s glove-side shoulder.
The Flames regained the lead with 7:32 left in the second period. Fleury denied Pospisil on a breakaway, but Calgary kept the puck in the offensive zone and it led to a second chance for Pospisil, who buried a forehand shot near the front of the crease.
Andersson increased Calgary’s cushion to 3-1 with eight seconds left in the second. He buried a one-timer from the right circle for his first goal since Dec. 3.
Bishop made it 4-1 with 8:07 remaining in the third period. He scored on an odd-man rush for his first goal of the season and the second of his career.
Minnesota pulled within 4-2 on the power play with 5:45 to go in the third period. Gaudreau punched in a rebound after Ryan Hartman’s initial shot was stopped.
Kuzmenko made it 5-2 for Calgary when he beat Fleury on a wraparound with 5:31 left. It was his fourth goal of the season.
Foligno notched an even-strength goal to cut the deficit to 5-3 with 1:14 to play.
Zuccarello finished the scoring with 27 seconds left to pull the Wild within 5-4.
–Field Level Media
