CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Niklas Backstrom stopped 41 shots and the Minnesota Wild beat the Calgary Flames 3-0 on Tuesday night for their fifth straight victory.
Dany Heatley had a goal and an assist for Minnesota. Darroll Powe and Guillaume Latendresse also scored.
The Flames had seven power-play opportunities, including a 5-minute man advantage in the second period, but couldn't get the puck past Backstrom.
It was Backstrom's first start since Oct. 27 against Anaheim. Backup goalie Josh Harding had started and won the Wild's last four games, allowing only three goals during that span.
Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff made 23 saves.
Despite being outshot 15-5 in the first, Minnesota scored 5 minutes into the period on Powe's first point in 14 games with the Wild since being acquired from Philadelphia in the offseason for a draft pick.
Nick Johnson took the initial shot that deflected off Calgary defenseman Anton Babchuk and then Powe's skate before trickling past Kiprusoff.
Late in the period, Jarome Iginla took a drop pass from Alex Tanguay and fired a shot that deflected wide off the post behind Backstrom.
The Wild went up 2-0 at 12:27 of the second when Heatley fired a nice feed from Mikko Koivu past Kiprusoff during a Minnesota power play.
Calgary was awarded a 5-minute power play when Johnson was given a match penalty for head-butting Iginla during a fight. The Flames fired seven shots during the man advantage but couldn't beat Backstrom.
The Flames kept pressing in the third and had another great chance during their sixth power-play opportunity of the game, but Backstrom made a spectacular glove save on a shot from the side of the crease by Olli Jokinen.
During their five-game winning streak, the Wild have killed off all 21 power-play opportunities awarded to their opponents.
Latendresse added a late empty-net goal to seal the victory for Minnesota.
The Flames had great chances in the first period when the line of Jokinen, David Moss and Curtis Glencross had the Wild pinned in their own zone.
After Backstrom stopped a shot by Moss, Glencross picked up the rebound and tried to lift a backhand shot over the fallen Minnesota goalie, who managed to make a stick save before pouncing on the puck to cover up.
A short time later, Backstrom went flat out to make another nice save to thwart a great scoring chance by Iginla from the slot.
NOTES: After going 3-18-4 in their first 25 games at the Saddledome, the Wild are 6-1 in their last seven games in Calgary. ... Backstrom is 5-0 in his last five games at the Saddledome and 13-7-5 against the Flames in his career. ... Iginla has scored 31 goals in 62 career games against Minnesota. When the Calgary captain scores against the Wild, the Flames are 19-2-1, including 11-0 at home.
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