Tkachuk, Toffoli lead Flames past Wild

Forty-eight hours after their 10-game winning streak came to a crashing halt in a 7-1 drubbing in Vancouver, Calgary gave up a goal on the first shot on Saturday, but they refused to let it phase them.Matthew Tkachuk and Tyler Toffoli each scored twice and added an assist as the Flames responded to the early deficit with the next five goals in a 7-3 win over the Minnesota Wild that tied a franchise record with 11 consecutive wins on home ice. “You look at tonight, them scoring the first goal, there is no letdown, if anything, we pushed back even harder,” said Toffoli. “One of the things that this team takes pride in is bouncing back and bouncing back after a tough night in Vancouver, too.” It was Frederick Gaudreau who got the Wild off to a fast start on a deflection 1:36 into the game.

But Calgary took over from that point, scoring the next three goals in outshooting the visitors 18-4 in the first. Calgary tied it at 10:29 when Toffoli snuck in from the blue line undetected and one-timed a perfect cross-ice pass from Rasmus Andersson. Toffoli then helped set up Tkachuk's go-ahead goal on the man advantage just over a minute later and the Flames had a lead they would not relinquish.

“It's exactly what we were expecting and more. Big goals,” said Tkachuk, on what Toffoli has brought to the team. “That goal tonight, I know we scored seven, but that first one was huge to get the momentum back.

It was a great shot.” Toffoli has four goals in six games since joining Calgary in a trade with Montreal. “It's definitely one of the closer groups that I've ever kind of been a part of,” Toffoli said. “So, it's been fun.