The Canadian Press
CALGARY–David Backes gave his team some relief when he returned from a potential injury.
He then gave them a lift just a few minutes later.
On his second shift upon returning from the Bruins’ medical room, Backes scored the game-winning goal as Boston beat Calgary 5-2 last night to snap the Flames’ 10-game winning streak.
“It’s maybe scary at the time, but you get back with the training staff and they rub it and kiss it and make it feel better, and you’re able to return to the game,” noted Backes, who appeared to hurt his knee early in the night when got tied up with Flames’ defenceman Mark Giordano and slid into the corner boards.
But he returned seven minutes into the second period and at 11:03, he took a pass from David Krejci on a 3-on-2 and whipped a wrist shot over the glove of Chad Johnson.
“It’s going to take a little more than that to keep him out,” said Bruins’ coach Bruce Cassidy.
“He got some treatment in between periods and told us he was going to give it a try, and it worked out well for us.
“He scored a big goal for us and played some key shifts for us down the stretch,” Cassidy added.
Cassidy improved to 12-3-0 since taking over for the fired Claude Julien.
The Bruins’ fourth-straight win moves them to within three points of the second-place Ottawa Senators in the Atlantic Division.
Third in the Pacific, the Flames are up one point on the Edmonton Oilers, who hold a game in hand.
“It was a great streak,” said Giordano.
“We’ve got to regroup, though, not let this one get us down too much,” the Flames’ captain stressed.
The hottest team in the NHL since the all-star break at 14-3-1, Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said his team needs to get used to the opposition getting up to play them.
“You don’t get a ‘B’ game, you get an ‘A’ game and we got an ‘A’ game from Boston,” he noted.
“I give them credit. They were just better than us.”
One of the best players during Calgary’s franchise record-tying win streak had been goalie Brian Elliott.
He had nine of the victories, and over that span had a 1.74 GAA and a .943 save percentage.
But Elliott woke up with the ‘flu yesterday morning and was told to stay home.
Elsewhere in the NHL, Philadelphia blanked Pittsburgh 4-0, Colorado beat Detroit 3-1, and Anaheim edged St. Louis 2-1.
