CALGARY -- Mikael Backlund scored twice, including the winner, as the Calgary Flames edged the Minnesota Wild 4-3 in overtime on Saturday. Backlund took the puck to the net and sent a pass to Sean Monahan, whos shot was stopped by Wild netminder Darcy Kuemper. The puck, however, bounced into the air and Backlund batted it down and past Kuemper at 2:25 of extra time. Its Calgarys fifth straight victory and also completes a perfect 5-0-0 homestand. The last time the Flames swept a homestand of that length was in 1997 - Jarome Iginlas rookie season. TJ Galiardi, with his first goal in 38 games, and Dennis Wideman also scored for Calgary (21-27-7), which last won five games in a row in March 2012. Mark Giordano had two assists to extend his career-high point streak to nine games, which includes four goals and six assists. Matt Cooke, Dany Heatley and Keith Ballard scored for Minnesota (29-21-7). Trailing 3-1 halfway through the third period, the Wild drew to within one on Dany Heatleys power-play goal at 10:31. Ballard then silenced the Scotiabank Saddledome sell-out crowd of 19,289 with the tying goal at 15:55. On a Minnesota rush, Ballard got caught up with Wideman as he drove the net. With Wideman tangled up with goaltender Reto Berra, Ballard backed away just in time to one-time a centring pass from Kyle Brodziak into the top corner. It was back on Oct. 4 in the Flames second game of the season in Columbus when Galiardi, acquired in an off-season trade with San Jose, scored his first goal as a Flame. Little did the Calgary native know at the time it would take nearly four months for him to score again. However, he did make it a beauty when he finally ended the drought at 12:36 of the first period to give the Flames a 1-0 lead. After getting a pass from Kevin Westgarth, Galiardi spun and quickly sent a backhand into the top corner. Immediately, the 25-year-old looked skywards in a show of both relief and shock that he finally scored. That lead would hold up until 14:03 of the second period when Cooke tied it for the Wild while shorthanded. Cooke burst down the left wing and from just inside the top of the face-off circle blasted a slapshot over the shoulder of Berra. Berra did not start the game for the Flames. He entered with 2:28 left in the first period when Karri Ramo left with a lower-body injury. The Flames regained the lead with 1:36 left in the second on a nifty deflection from Wideman. Shortly after failing to score on a power play, Chris Butler fired a shot from the blue-line that Wideman redirected thigh-high from the high slot and past Kuemper. Calgary surged in front 3-1 one minute into the third period when Backlund finished off a three-on-one for the Flames. The shorthanded goal was the third of the season for Backlund, moving him into a tie for second in the NHL behind Bostons Brad Marchand. While most of the season has seen Calgary equally divide up the starts between Ramo and Berra, Ramo (11-10-4) had been the better of the two in recent weeks and had been getting the majority of the playing time with Saturday being his sixth start in the last seven contests. Berra had 14 saves to improve to 7-14-2. He has yet to win in regulation, with four shootout victories and Saturday being his third overtime win. Kuemper made his 10th straight start in net for the Wild. He had 28 saves to fall to 6-4-1. Notes: The Flames final three games before the Olympic break will be on the road beginning in Montreal on Tuesday... Minnesota plays twice at home before its break begins... The Flames have eight shorthanded goals, which is second in the NHL behind Carolina (9)... Flames D Kris Russell (upper body) did not play. Taking his spot was Chris Breen, who played for the first time since being recalled from Abbotsford (AHL) on Jan. 26. Hugo Ayala Jersey . 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Rafael Marquez Jersey . -- Brady Heslip scored a season-high 20 points to help Baylor beat No. Javier Hernandez Jersey . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason.The Washington Capitals overhauled their defence, by paying huge money to a pair of former Pittsburgh Penguins. Numbers Game breaks down the signings of Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik. The Capitals Get: D Matt Niskanen and D Brooks Orpik. Niskanen, 27, picked a terrific time to have the best year of his career, scoring a career-best 10 goals and 46 points while playing a career-high 21:18 per game. He was also a career-best plus-33, which is all well and good, but he was one of six regular defencemen (minimum 62 games played) to have a combined on-ice save percentage and on-ice shooting percentage (PDO) at 5-on-5 of 103.0 or better. An on-ice shooting percentage over 10.0% is difficult for any defenceman to sustain, but Niskanens 10.32% was the third-best of his career; basically, its the kind of good fortune that shouldnt be expected, but its not out of the realm of possibility from season to season for Niskanen. Where the puck luck really stuck with Niskanen last year, was that he also had a .928 on-ice save percentage during 5-on-5 play, so getting favourable percentages at both ends of the ice during the same year contributed to that strong plus-minus. That shouldnt diminish the evaluation of Niskanen entirely, though, because he has consistently been on the right side of the puck possession ledger, and that makes him an asset to any team that acquires him. While Niskanen hasnt typically played hard minutes, and in some years has been excessively sheltered, hes likely to face more difficult matchups now that hes the highest-priced defenceman on the Capitals roster. Signed for seven years and $40.25-million, Niskanen landed the biggest free agent contract of the year. There was probably an element of paying for the good fortune that Niskanen experienced last year, and it is a gamble that Niskanen is going to be able to live up to the money involved in that contract, but if a team is going to swing for the fences on a free agent defenceman, doing so on a guy with consistently strong possession numbers is at least a reasonable foundation on which to make that investment. Which brings us to Brooks Orpik, a 33-year-old who has made his bones as a physical, hard-hitting defenceman, registering more than 200 hits in five of the past seven seasons. The unfortunate part, however, is that Orpik in position to hit so much -- particularly in recent years -- because his team doesnt have the puck as often when hes on the ice and the problem with a defensive defenceman who is already on the wrong end of the possession game is that hes certainly not likely to get better as he gets older. For example, in the 2013-2014 season, there were seven defencemen that were over 35 and scored fewer than 20 points (as Orpik has in everyy season of his career, except one).dddddddddddd Its an okay list, some useful players, but six of the seven were 35 or 36. Orpik is signed through his age 38 season and the only -- the only -- NHL defenceman that played more than 60 games without scoring more than 20 points last season was Tampa Bays Sami Salo, who has never played the kind of physical, banging style that characterizes Orpiks game, in part because Salo was always hurt anyway. This doesnt offer much encouragement that the Capitals wont have massive regrets about the Orpik signing; the only question is how soon will those regrets occur? Can he give the Capitals a couple of solid years, maybe facing lower-calibre of competition than he did in Pittsburgh? Thats probably the best hope, but its a longshot that the last two, maybe even three years, wont have the Capitals paying big money for a spare part on their blueline. Orpik is signed for five years, at a cap hit of $5.5-million per season. Big money, long term. Pittsburgh anticipated that they would lose both Niskanen and Orpik and, in addition to having an opening or two for some prospects, they also signed Christian Ehrhoff to add stability to their defence. Its entirely understandable for the Capitals to make a move to upgrade their defence. They allowed 33.5 shots per game, ranking 27th in the league, last season, so the defence needed to get better. Ultimately, the Capitals are better today after adding Niskanen and Orpik, but that should never be up for debate when committing close to $11-million annually to two players. What has to matter is how much better they are, whether the money spent is worth it and what the fall-out will be. The Capitals dont have to make any moves --- they are under the $69-million salary cap -- but they have $28,762,500 committed to their defence, according to Cap Geek. The only teams spending in that neighbourhood for their defence are Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, who have Chris Pronger and Mattias Ohlund, respectively, on long-term injured reserve. St. Louis and Chicago are spending in the $24-million-to-$25-million on their respective bluelines right now, so its hard to imagine that the Capitals maintain the status quo, leaving a hole at second line centre while sticking with the most expensive defence corps in the league. We will see what other moves the Capitals have in mind this summer but, right now, it appears that they spent a lot of money to get better in the short-term; signing deals that appear to have more downside risk because of the long terms involved. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '