Flames eliminated from playoff contention despite shootout win against Golden Knights

CALGARY -- The Calgary Flames were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention prior to a 5-4 shootout win against the Vegas Golden Knights at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.

In order to stay in contention, the Flames needed a win against Vegas and help from either the Anaheim Ducks, who were defeated 3-2 in overtime by the Minnesota Wild, or the Utah Hockey Club, which lost 6-1 to the St. Louis Blues.

"We could've been out of this thing a month ago," Calgary forward Nazem Kadri said. "It shows the pesky attitude. I felt like if we could've squeaked in, there might've been something there because we've had a lot of momentum and played some great hockey against some great hockey teams. Stuff like that [stinks]."

Kadri had a goal and an assist, and Morgan Frost, Mikael Backlund and Adam Klapka scored for the Flames (40-27-14), who have just two regulation losses in their past 15 games (10-2-3) and points in seven straight (5-0-2). Dustin Wolf made 38 saves.

"At the beginning of the year no one believed in us," Backlund said. "We believed in ourselves from Day 1 starting in training camp. Right away we got the sense everyone was buying in and was believing and when everyone buys in and believes, you can achieve some big things. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to playoffs, but we battled all the way to the end. We were so resilient all year and that says a lot about this group. We were playing for each other all year."

Brandon Saad had a goal and two assists, Tomas Hertl had a goal and an assist, and Pavel Dorofeyev and Nicolas Roy also scored for the Golden Knights (49-22-10), who will face the Wild in the Western Conference First Round. Ilya Samsonov made 24 saves.

"It's nice," Vegas forward Keegan Kolesar said. "It just means we took care of business many times during the regular season and got ourselves in a position to give ourselves the best chance going into the dance. Obviously, you don't want to think that far ahead, but it's also a nice little relief knowing that you have that until that time comes."

Dorofeyev put the Golden Knights ahead 1-0 at 5:25 of the first period when his shot from the right-side boards deflected in off both Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar.

Frost tied it 1-1 at 10:11 with a one-timer that squeaked through Samsonov's legs on the power play.

Roy put the Golden Knights up 2-1 at 14:52. He finished a backhand-to-forehand deke with a shot over Wolf's glove on a breakaway sprung by a pass from Ivan Barbashev near center ice.

Hertl pushed it to 3-1 at 19:36 with a one-timer on Saad's cross-slot pass.

Kadri scored on the power play 32 seconds into the third period to trim the lead to 3-2, and Backlund tied it 3-3 at 1:04 with a wrist shot from the high slot that beat Samsonov five-hole.

The goals came after Calgary found out during the second intermission they had been eliminated.

"It's emotional," Kadri said. "You try not to get down on yourself or down on your team. We come out and score two goals in 10 seconds. That just sums up what kind of group we have. Just felt like over the last few weeks we couldn't get a break in the out-of-town stuff. Certainly proud of how we've been playing."

Klapka put the Flames ahead 4-3 at 11:01 when he redirected a shot by Brayden Pachal past Samsonov's right pad.

Saad tied it 4-4 at 11:12, skating in alone and putting a wrist shot on net that deflected up off Wolf, looped over his head and was pushed into the net as he skated backward to locate the puck.

"It's not like they're going to stop playing because their season's over," Saad said. "In fact, I think they'd take more pride and battle harder. For us, I like how we responded when we went down but obviously we need to clean some things up there."

Frost scored the shootout winner for the Flames. He slowed up in the slot and shot by Samsonov’s glove, and Wolf stopped Shea Theodore for the win.

"I'm sure everybody was saying it's sad and disappointing and whatnot, but for me it was ... what a [heck] of a fight," Weegar said. "With all the ups and downs this year you look back ... it's such a grind all year long and it's such a hard league to win in. This group came together at the beginning of the year right away. I'm proud of this group, the perseverance and leadership from everybody, the belief, everybody bought in ... it says a lot. Everybody came to work for one another this year. I think that's the most important thing. Credit to this team. We really did fight with all we had."

NOTES: Vegas, which clinched first place in the Pacific Division on Saturday, did not dress forwards Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Noah Hanifin, and goalie Adin Hill. ... Flames forward Matt Coronato had two assists and has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a six-game point streak. ... Kadri, 34, set a new NHL career high in goals with 33.