The Minnesota Wild had no business competing the way they did Tuesday night, but they gave the Calgary Flames one heckuva a battle before falling 3-1 on the ice at Xcel Energy Center.
Minnesota entered the game with more than half of the team’s salary cap out with injuries, including wingers Kirill Kaprizov, Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno, Vinni Lettieri, defenseman Jonas Brodin and No. 1 goalie Filip Gustavsson.
It got worse when defenseman Jared Spurgeon left the game late in the first period into part of the second period, and although he returned it’s highly unlikely that he was playing at 100% health.
Jonathan Huberdeau’s backhander gave the Flames a 2-0 lead with 24 seconds to go in the first period, at which point Marc-Andre Fleury, playing in career game No. 1,001, became a brick wall.
The 39-year-old made 30 saves, the majority of them in the first two periods as the Wild’s depleted lineup took control of the pace of play in the third period.
Trailing 2-1 after Pat Maroon’s fourth goal of the season midway through the second period, the Wild out-shot the Flames 17-10 in the third period, though they couldn’t sneak a puck by Calgary goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who made 28 saves on the night including a perfect 8 of 8 on three Minnesota power plays.
It 2-1 until Blake Coleman scored on an empty net with 56 seconds to go.
The loss brings Minnesota back to .500 at 16-16-4 and is the team’s first three-game losing streak since John Hynes took over for fired coach Dean Evason on Nov. 28. Overall, the Wild are 11-6 with Hynes on the bench.
Up next: Wild vs. Tampa Bay Lightning, Thursday at 7:10 p.m. CT.
