Brandon Bollig and rookie Patrick Sieloff scored 31 seconds apart late in the third period to rally the Calgary Flames to a season-ending 2-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Saturday. Minnesota (38-33-11), which was locked into the second wild card position into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference regardless of the result, finished its regular season with five consecutive losses. The Wild will play the Dallas Stars in the First Round next week.
Bollig tied the game 1-1 at 13:35 of the third period by beating Darcy Kuemper to the short side with a snap shot from the left circle. On the next shift, Sieloff, making his NHL debut, backhanded the puck toward the net from the right half-wall. It took a funny bounce and slipped between Kuemper and the near post at 14:06.
Flames goaltender Niklas Backstrom, playing in perhaps his final NHL game at age 38, made 34 saves against his former club for his second win of the season and 196th of his career. The first 194 came with the Wild before Minnesota traded him to Calgary on Feb. 29. Zac Dalpe scored Minnesota's lone goal midway through the second period. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk made six saves in 30:06 before being relieved by Kuemper, who finished with 17 saves.
Calgary (35-40-7) finished the regular season by winning its last two games.
Dalpe made it 1-0 when he scored his first goal with the Wild at 13:00 of the second period, flipping a backhand shot through Backstrom. It was his first NHL goal since April 1, 2015, when he played for the Buffalo Sabres.
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