Flames suffer costly loss to Utah as playoff hopes fade

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kevin Stenlund and Barrett Hayton scored for the Utah Hockey Club in a 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.

Clayton Keller had an empty-netter and Karel Vejmelka stopped 32 shots to help Utah get its second straight win.

Rasmus Andersson scored for Calgary and Dustin Wolf finished with 25 saves. The Flames lost for the third time in four games (1-2-1).

“I just thought we got energy from the goal, we kept pushing, and we had a lot of looks,” Andersson said. “We just couldn't get the 2-2 puck behind him. … At this time, we probably need one or two more points. So not good enough.”

Stenlund gave Utah a 1-0 lead with 2:14 left in the first period with a one-timer from the inside edge of the right circle off a pass from Alexander Kerfoot for his 12th of the season.

Hayton doubled the lead at 2:25 of the second on a give-and-go with Sean Durzi, finishing up with a backhander in close from the left side for his 18th.

Andersson got the Flames on the scoreboard with seven minutes left in the middle period with his 11th.

Keller sealed it with an empty-net goal with 17.3 seconds remaining.

TAKEAWAYS

Flames: Calgary dropped to 5-2-1 in its last eight games and fell to six points out of the second wild-card berth in the Western Conference.

“There's no time to be giving up wins at this time of year,” Flames forward Joel Farabee said. “It [stinks], but you can't dwell on it. You just got to focus on tomorrow. That's all you can really do.”

Utah: Utah improved to 2-2-1 in its last five games and 6-4-3 in the last 13 to move to eight points out of a playoff spot with seven games remaining.

KEY MOMENT

In the final seconds of a Calgary power play in the third period, Vejmelka turned aside Joel Farabee at the side of the net to keep Utah ahead with seven minutes left.

KEY STAT

Andersson’s goal was his 11th of the season, matching his career high from 2022-23, and his 229th career point to pass Dion Phaneuf for eighth on Calgary's franchise’s scoring list among defencemen.

UP NEXT

Flames: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

Utah: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

___

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL