NHL: 3 stories from Friday night
Calgary is still on the outside looking in at the playoff picture after a loss to Minnesota and Edmonton routed Dallas in a shutout victory.
Here are three stories from Friday night:
Playoffs still up in the air for Flames
With the postseason in the balance, the Calgary Flames visited the Minnesota Wild trying to regain lost ground.
Prior to Friday night's matchup, Calgary had dropped out of the heated Western Conference playoff race after the Los Angeles Kings slipped into third place in the Pacific division with a Thursday night victory.
Calgary's underwhelming start to their game against the Wild ultimately left them idle with a 4-2 loss. The Flames, with 87 points, are a single point behind the Kings for the last postseason spot in their division and three points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the last wild-card position.
Dubnyk continues to shine for Wild
Minnesota's stretch of genius could be credited heavily to goalie Devan Dubnyk. He made his 33rd consecutive start since joining Minnesota in another solid performance for the Wild.
The 28-year-old Regina native now has a 25-6-1 record that includes five shutouts since his starting streak began.
His solid backstopping has allowed the team to crawl back into the playoff race over the final stretch.
Forward Zach Parise scored his 30th of the season, while captain Mikko Koivu fooled Karri Ramo, who was pulled in the decision, for his 12th of the year and the game winner.
Oilers have memorable shutout
In their final meeting of the season, the Edmonton Oilers shutout the visiting Dallas Stars with a 4-0 win.
It was a big night for two players in particular. Oilers rookie Andrew Miller capped off the night with his first NHL goal on a penalty shot after Jamie Benn hooked him on a breakaway attempt.
Goalie Richard Bachman stopped all 29 shots he faced to earn his second career shutout. Coincidentally, his first came as a Dallas Star, the team that drafted him in 2006.
