By Jamie MacDonald
FOXSportsNorth.com
January 19, 2011
What a difference a month makes. When Minnesota last visited the Flames, back on Dec. 18, the Wild were sitting at 13-13-4 and only a few days removed from a five-game winless streak. Understandably, there were concerns.
And then a home-and-home with the Flames happened.
Calgary, 14-15-3 at the time and sitting with Minnesota deep in the Western Conference standings, dropped both ends to the Wild in a miniseries suggesting the teams were headed in different directions.
A month later, the notion felt less like mere suggestion.
On Wednesday in Calgary, the Wild ran out to an early 2-0 lead then went on to score four more in a hard-working and complete 6-0 win over the Flames. Calgary dipped a game below .500 while the Wild moved to 24-18-5.
In the process, Minnesota won for only the second time this season in Game 2 of a back-to-back. Niklas Backstrom, after more than two weeks away from game action, earned a shutout. Cal Clutterbuck set a career high with his 14th goal of the season. And Martin Havlat scored the 200th goal of his career.
QUICK START
On Tuesday in Edmonton, it took Minnesota 3:25 to score the game's first two goals. In Calgary, it took nearly twice that, though it's doubtful the Wild will worry about a relative lack of urgency.
