The flames hold on to overcome the struggling demons.

Mikael Backlund scored a key third period goal for his 600th point and John Beecher had two goals. The visiting Calgary Flames played in Newark, NJ on Thursday night with a 5-4 win over the New Jersey Devils.

Backlund, who played his entire 18-year career in Calgary, scored 4:10 into the third with his milestone score that made it a 5-2 game in favor of Calgary, which also had goals from former Devils Kevin Bahl and Yegor Sharangovich.

Backlund’s score was critical as Jack Hughes singled midway through the third and brother Luke scored in the final seconds of a 6-on-4 scenario for the Devils, who had lost their second straight game after four straight wins.

Meanwhile, Beecher has just one goal in 30 games for the Flames entering this tournament, and he is on a four-game road skid.

Calgary opened the scoring 5:04 into the contest. Through a 2-on-1, Beecher kept the puck and beat New Jersey’s Jacob Markstrom (24 saves). The Flames made it 2-0 with 5:46 left in the opening period when Bahl’s one-timer in traffic appeared to go off the stick of New Jersey’s Paul Cotter and inside.

The Devils got a goal back with 3:46 left in the first half. Off the turnover, Maxim Tsyplakov’s shot deflected off Calgary’s Yan Kuznetsov and past Dustin Wolf (28 saves).

The Devils got a four-minute power play going into the second period after the Flames’ Joel Hanley accidentally hit Jack Hughes in the face with his stick. But it was Beecher who scored Calgary’s 11th shorthanded goal, rebounding a Markstrom skate 54 seconds into the middle frame.

But with one second left on the Devils’ power play, Luke Hughes took the puck and broke through the Calgary defense near the net to make it a 3-2 game for Nemec.

The Flames regained a two-goal advantage with 3:12 left in the second. On a Jack Hughes turnover, Calgary went up 2-on-1 and Ryan Strome sent the puck to Sharangovich, who went forehand-backhand to beat Markstrom.

–Field level media