CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - On an emotional night in which Calgary retired the jersey of Jarome Iginla, Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk played the role of spoiler.
Dubnyk made 35 saves Saturday, and the Wild beat Calgary 4-2.
“You know they’re going to come with a pretty hard push at the beginning of the game,” said Dubnyk, who stopped 27 of- 8 shots in the opening 40 minutes to keep the game tied at 1-1. “They’re a good team and they play well here. I thought we did a good job weathering it.”
Matt Read put the Wild ahead to stay in the third period by deflecting a puck off the skate of Calgary’s Mark Jankowski and past goaltender Mike Smith.
Eric Staal, Ryan Suter and Ryan Donato also scored for Minnesota, which won its fifth straight.
Sean Monahan and Travis Hamonic scored for Calgary, which had its seven-game winning streak halted.
The Flames raised Iginla’s No. 12 to the rafters in a pre-game ceremony that lasted nearly an hour and delayed the start by 10 minutes. Iginla retired last summer after 20 NHL seasons, 16 with the Flames.
Flames goaltender Mike Smith said the event was special.
“I had goose bumps for most of that ceremony,” Flames goaltender Mike Smith said. “I had the privilege to play against Jarome for a few years and it was a special night to be a part of.”
The Wild remain in the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, one point behind of Dallas and one point ahead of Arizona. Calgary leads San Jose by five points atop the Pacific Division.
Dubnyk was the story for Minnesota, which was outshot 37-23. Making his sixth straight start, Dubnyk was especially sharp in the opening 40 minutes, when he was peppered with 28 shots. He stopped all but one and improved to 26-21-5.
Making his seventh start in nine games, Smith had 19 saves. He had his win streak stopped at five games and fell to 19-12-2.
Suter’s goal made it 3-1 at 11:07. After Hamonic cut the deficit to one at 14:29, Donato’s long shot go past Smith at 18:18 and put the game out of reach.
“The way (Dubnyk) was playing helped. I think it brought confidence to our team,” said Staal.
Donato (2-5-7) and Staal (2-5-6) extended their point streaks to five games.
Down 1-0 after the first period, Calgary evened the score with the only goal of the second.
Johnny Gaudreau found Monahan in front and he steered in the pass for his 30th goal. The 24-year-old Monahan reached 30 goals for the third time in six NHL seasons.
Minnesota opened the scoring at 3:17, when Staal one-timed a pass from Jason Zucker.
The Flames thought they had tied the score a couple minutes later when Sam Bennett cut hard to the net off the wing and had Austin Czarnik bang in his rebound. However, Bruce Boudreau challenged it for goaltender interference and upon review, the call was reversed.
Bennett caught Dubnyk’s pad with his skate and knocked the goaltender off balance.
NOTES: Iginla, the longtime Calgary captain, is the franchise leader in games (1,219), goals (525), and points (1,095). A much sought after ticket in Calgary since the jersey retirement was announced, the red-clad patrons in a Saddledome witnessed an emotional tribute that included a stirring video narrated by Lanny McDonald, who along with Mike Vernon are the other two players with their numbers retired. … Zach Parise (foot) didn’t play for Minnesota. … The Wild’s opening goal ended a stretch of 430:41 in which Calgary had not trailed. The last time the Flames faced a deficit was Feb. 14. … Oliver Kylington (lower body) missed his third game.
UP NEXT
Wild: Host Nashville on Sunday.
Flames: Host Toronto on Monday.
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