CALGARY — Morgan Frost snapped a 25-game goalless drought then scored the deciding goal in the shootout as the Calgary Flames came from behind for a 5-4 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.
Nazem Kadri, with his career-best 33rd goal, Mikael Backlund and Adam Klapka also scored for Calgary (40-27-14), who despite stretching their points streak to seven games (5-0-2) were eliminated from the playoff race. The Flames miss the post-season for a third consecutive year.
Calgary entered the night still alive in the chase for a wild-card berth in the Western Conference, but needing help on the out-of-town scoreboard. Their fate was sealed earlier in the evening when both the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues won.
Brandon Saad had a goal and two assists to pace the offence for Vegas (49-22-10). Pavel Dorofeyev, Nicolas Roy and Tomas Hertl also scored. The Golden Knights have points in six straight (4-0-2) and are 10-2-2 in their last 14.
The Golden Knights are heading to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the seventh time in eight seasons. They will meet the Minnesota Wild in the first round, who clinched the first wild-card spot in the West with a 3-2 overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks.
Rookie Dustin Wolf, making his eighth straight start, was stellar once again making 38 stops to improve to 29-16-8.
Ilya Samsonov (upper-body injury), making his first start since March 23, had 24 saves. He falls to 16-9-4.
TAKEAWAYS
Golden Knights: Having clinched the Pacific Division, coach Bruce Cassidy elected to rest a bunch of veterans with Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Noah Hanifin and goaltender Adin Hill not dressing. Stepping up in their absence was Saad with his first multi-point game since March 20. He had just one assist in his previous 12 games.
Flames: Frost’s goal was just his third in 31 games since being acquired from Philadelphia along with Joel Farabee in a trade that sent Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier to the Flyers. Farabee has also been limited to just three goals with his new team. He has no goals in his last 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
Despite learning during the game that they had been eliminated from playoff contention, the Flames mounted a comeback in the third period with Kadri scoring 32 seconds into the period to make it 3-2 and Backlund tying it 32 seconds after that.
KEY STAT
Calgary improves to a perfect 16-0-0 when they score four or more goals. They are the only NHL team perfect in that scenario.
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: Conclude the regular season against the host Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
Flames: Wrap up their season on the road Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings.
