It seemed the Calgary Flames, at the start of the month, couldn’t buy a goal or a win.
How things have turned. Mikael Backlund scored his second of the evening to give the Flames a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Minnesota Wild on Saturday. Backlund put on display his baseball skills, batting the puck out of mid-air and into the open net.
And suddenly, the Flames, fighting it out with the Edmonton Oilers at the bottom of the Pacific Division, have won five consecutive games. You read that correctly.
The Flames were shutout in three of their first four games to begin the month of January, and twice before that in December following the holiday break. It wasn’t all good for the Flames on this night. Goalie Karri Ramo left the game midway through the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return.