Brayden Pachal scored his first goal of the season and added two assists, and the host Calgary Flames beat the Utah Mammoth 4-1 on Sunday night.
Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames (33-38-9, 75 points), who had lost three straight and are eliminated from playoff contention. Dustin Wolf made 28 saves. In two wins versus Utah this season, Wolf stopped 56 of 57 shots.
Lawson Crouse scored his 23rd goal of the season for the Mammoth (42-32-6, 90 points), who have clinched a playoff berth and lead the Los Angeles Kings by three points for the first wild card in the Western Conference. The Kings have played one fewer game, but Utah holds the regulation wins tiebreaker (32-21). Vitek Vanecek made 19 saves.
Clayton Keller (assist) extended his point streak to eight games (four goals, 13 assists).
The Mammoth went 0-for-3 on the power play; the Flames were 0-for-4.
Coronato gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 7:06 of the first period when he took the puck away from Vanecek behind the net, circled out front and buried it for his 100th career point.
Zary made it 2-0 at 8:27 of the second period. Vanecek made a save against Zary in front and the loose puck went in off Zary’s skate.
Backlund increased the lead to 3-0 at 6:01 of the third period. Blake Coleman came in a partial breakaway and, after shooting, slid into the Vanecek and the net. Backlund knocked in the loose puck and the play was ruled a goal on the ice. Utah challenged for goaltender interference against Coleman, but after a review the goal was upheld.
Pachal made it 4-0 at 9:10 when he scored on a slap shot from the point off a pass from Aydar Suniev.
–Field Level Media
