Morgan Frost scored the shootout winning goal and tallied once in regulation as Calgary recorded a 5-4 victory over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday, but it was not enough to keep the Flames’ Stanley Cup playoff hopes alive.
Nazem Kadri collected one goal and one assist while Mikael Backlund and Adam Klapka also scored for Calgary (40-27-14, 94 points), which was officially eliminated from playoff contention. Matt Coronato notched two assists.
Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf made 38 saves through regulation and overtime as Calgary beat Vegas for the first time in the last of the teams’ four meetings this season.
Brandon Saad scored one goal in a three-point game for Vegas (49-22-10, 108 points), which had already clinched the Pacific Division crown and rested a few key players. The Golden Knights’ Tomas Hertl had one goal and one assist and Pavel Dorofeyev and Nicolas Roy added singles.
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves through regulation and overtime for Vegas, which will face the Minnesota Wild in the opening round of the playoffs.
Frost, the Flames’ third shootout participant, was the lone scorer when he snapped a quick forehand just inside the post to end Calgary’s final home game.
The Flames were officially eliminated before the third period began with both the Wild and the St. Louis Blues winning, but that did not keep the Flames from pushing for yet another comeback victory.
Dorofeyev opened the scoring 5:25 into the contest. His shot from the right circle ricocheted off a defender’s stick and into the net for his 34th goal of the season.
Frost tied the clash five minutes later by converting a sharp-angled shot from the right circle for the power-play goal that snapped his 25-game goal drought.
Goals by Roy and Hertl before the first intermission put the Golden Knights up by a pair. Roy scored at 14:52 with a breakaway tally, and Hertl converted cross-ice pass from Saad with 24 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
From there, both teams erased deficits. Kadri scored 32 seconds into the third period on a power play, a perfect shot from the top of the right circle for his career-high 33rd of the season. Backlund tied the clash at 1:04 of the third with a top-corner shot from the high slot.
Klapka gave Calgary a 4-3 lead at 11:01 of the final period by redirecting a Brayden Pachal feed, but Saad tied the game 11 seconds later when he pounced on a rebound.
–Field Level Media
