Blake Coleman scored a pair of special teams goals to lead the host Calgary Flames to an important 4-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

Nazem Kadri and Kevin Rooney also scored for the Flames (36-27-12, 84 points), who helped their playoff hopes. Calgary’s Yegor Sharangovich collected a pair of assists, and goaltender Dustin Wolf made 26 saves.

The Flames are five points back of the Wild for the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. Calgary has seven games remaining, and Minnesota has six games to go.

Olen Zellweger tallied for the Ducks (33-34-8, 74 points), who were officially eliminated from postseason contention.

Anaheim goalie John Gibson left the game after two periods due to a lower-body injury, having stopped 23 of 26 shots he faced. Lukas Dostal turned aside 7 of 8 shots in relief.

Calgary has won all three meetings this season, with one more on the docket Wednesday in Anaheim.

The Flames broke open the clash just past the midway point.

Coleman gave Calgary a 2-1 lead at 10:25 of the second period by converting on a short-handed breakaway he created when he intercepted a pass at his own blue line. He wound up with his first goal in 10 games.

Rooney gave the Flames a two-goal edge at 15:19 of the middle frame by snapping an 18-game drought. His high shot from the slot capped an excellent shift by the club’s fourth line.

Coleman’s power-play goal 77 seconds into the third period, a sharp-angled shot off the rush from the bottom of the right circle, rounded out the scoring.

Anaheim did not bother to pull the goalie for an extra attacker in a comeback attempt.

For the first half, it was a tight game, with the clubs trading first-period goals.

Kadri opened the scoring 16 seconds into the clash when he elected to shoot on a two-on-one rush and whipped a top-corner shot.

Zellweger evened the count at 8:01, tapping home a cross-crease feed from Ryan Strome during an odd-man rush.

–Field Level Media