CALGARY, March 20, (Agencies): The Calgary Flames battled to a 4-3 victory over the slumping San Jose Sharks on Friday to draw level on points with the Detroit Red Wings in the race for the final Western Conference playoff spot.
Both have 81 points after the Red Wings’s shootout loss to Edmonton but Detroit (34-23-13) remain in eighth place because they have played one less game than the Flames (36-26-9).
Rookie Mikael Blacklund put the Flames on course for the playoffs with assists on a pair of second period goals that gave Calgary a 4-1 lead.
However, he also helped the Sharks get back into the game in the third period when his pass to Miikka Kiprusoff slid past the netminder and gave San Jose’s Manny Malhotra the easiest of tap-ins to make it 4-2 with about eight minutes to play.
When Dan Boyle scored with 1:51 to play to close the gap to 4-3, Backlund became even more concerned.
But Finn Kiprusoff, who had 25 saves, shut the door on the Sharks the remainder of the period to ensure the Pacific Division leaders lost for a fifth successive game.
Four different players scored for the Flames.
Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow gave Calgary a 2-0 first period advantage while Nigel Dawes and Eric Nystrom scored in the second off Backlund assists.
The latter gave the Flames a 4-1 advantage as San Jose’s Dany Heatley also scored in the second
Blue Jackets 4, Wild 2
At Columbus, Ohio, Rick Nash scored two third-period goals in his return from injury as the Columbus Blue Jackets overcame a two-goal deficit to hand the Minnesota Wild a costly 4-2 loss.
The Wild came into the game in 11th place and six points behind eighth-place Detroit in the Western Conference playoff race. Instead of getting two points, they came away with none after blowing leads of 2-0 in the second period and 2-1 with less than 9 minutes left.
Nash’s shootout-like goal came just 27 seconds after Kris Russell tied it. Nash, who was sidelined with a lower-body injury, added an empty-netter in the final minute. Kristian Huselius also scored for Columbus, which has won four of five.
Mikko Koivu and Chuck Kobasew had goals for the Wild, who have dropped two in a row after a three-game winning streak.
Ducks 5, Islanders 4, OT
At Anaheim, California, Saku Koivu scored 14 seconds into overtime after Lubomir Visnovsky tied it with 32 seconds remaining in regulation as Anaheim rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to beat the New York Islanders.
It was the third straight win for the Ducks after five losses following the Olympic break.
The Islanders led 4-2 after John Tavares’ goal with 5:29 left in the second period. Anaheim cut it to 4-3 with 9:53 left in the third, scoring on the power play as Jason Blake deflected in a shot by Steve Eminger.
The Ducks leveled it on Visnovsky’s blast from near the blue line after pulling Curtis McElhinney, and Koivu scored on the first shot of overtime to complete the rally.
Oilers 3, Red Wings 2, SO
At Edmonton, Alberta, Gilbert Brule scored the shootout winner and also had two assists as Edmonton beat Detroit.
Detroit’s Brian Rafalski scored during a scramble in front of the net with 0.2 seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime.
Andrew Cogliano and Ryan Whitney also had goals for the last-place Oilers, who snapped a five-game losing streak despite being outshot 17-3 in the third period.
Patrick Eaves scored the other goal for the Red Wings, whose three-game winning streak ended.