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Flames hold onto playoff spot by beating Canucks

Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Miller

Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Ryan Miller

AP

The Calgary Flames have been decent since the All-Star break, but okay isn’t good enough when measured against the surging Wild. After Minnesota earned a 6-3 victory tonight to improve to 10-1-2 since the Devan Dubnyk trade, the Flames were put in a position where they needed to secure at least one point tonight to maintain their hold on the second Wild Card spot.

They did one better by eking out a 3-2 victory against the Vancouver Canucks to maintain their narrow gap over the Wild. Meanwhile, the win put Calgary in a tie for third place in the Pacific Division with the Canucks as far as points are concerned (65), although Vancouver still has the slimmest of edges as the squad has played in one less game.

The Canucks struck first tonight as rookie forward Ronalds Kenins found the back of the net for the third time in seven games. However, Calgary’s Sean Monahan fired back in the second with two markers in the span of less than five minutes.

Lance Bouma accounted for the game winner early in the third period.

For the Flames this is a great way for them to makeup for their 5-3 loss to Los Angeles on Thursday while Vancouver failed to build further on its victories against Chicago and Boston. This was the last of four meetings between these two squads, with Vancouver taking the first two contests and Calgary claiming the final games.

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