CALGARY - Two months ago when he had eight goals and was struggling to produce, Mikael Backlund's father told him he'd score 20. He should have believed him.

Backlund's first career hat trick on Thursday night gave him 21 goals on the season as he led the Calgary Flames to a 7-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

"Getting to 20, that was a huge mark. My dad told me on the father's trip in February that I'm going to get 20 this year and I just laughed at him. I guess he was right," said Backlund, whose career high had been 18 in 2013-14.

With a power-play and even-strength and goal already, Backlund capped off his evening with a short-handed goal with 52 seconds remaining in the second period that gave Calgary a 5-3 lead.

On a 2-on-1, Matt Stajan sent a perfect saucer pass over the stick of Ben Hutton that landed on the stick of Backlund, who fired a high shot over Ryan Miller.

As he stood with his arms thrust in the air in jubilation, hats came raining down from the Scotiabank Saddledome crowd.

"Backs has been, in the last month, one of our most consistent players. Great that he's getting rewarded for his efforts," said Flames coach Bob Hartley.

It's been a red-hot second half of the season for Backlund, who only had five goals through his first 50 games.

"Just improving my game throughout the year," said the 27-year-old Swede. "Around the net, I feel like offensively I've been more patient."

Dougie Hamilton, Joe Colborne, Deryk Engelland and Sam Bennett also scored for Calgary (34-40-7). Matt Stajan tied a career-best with three assists.

Nikita Tryamkin, with his first NHL goal, Bo Horvat and Emerson Etem scored for Vancouver (30-38-13). The Canucks have lost back-to-back games after a three-game winning streak.

"Tonight they were coming at us in waves and we didn't have a push back," said Canucks left winger Daniel Sedin. "You need your top guys to have a few good shifts and get your team going and we couldn't do that tonight, which is disappointing."

The Flames had the edge in shots 43-27.

Joni Ortio got the win to improve to 7-9-5. Miller fell to 17-24-9.

"Obviously change is going to happen. This is the worst I've ever been a part of since I've been here. It hasn't been very fun," said Vancouver right winger Jannik Hansen.

Miller gave up seven goals for just the fourth time in his career and the first time since Feb. 13, 2011.

"It's disrespectful to Ryan. He's put in the work. He's doing everything he can. There's not a lot to be said," Hansen added.

Backlund had given the Flames a 3-2 lead 1:18 into the second, also coming on a Stajan pass. After mishandling the feed, Backlund corralled the puck and from below the goal line and banked the puck in off of Miller.

Etem's goal at 6:54 tied it 3-3 but Colborne gave the Flames the lead for good at 11:54. Also enjoying a career-best season, Colborne's scored his 19th when he deflected in Hamilton's point shot.

Notes: With Calgary owning the tiebreaker with the Canucks, Vancouver can no longer finish ahead of the Flames... With Lance Bouma (oblique) done for the season, Drew Shore was recalled from Stockton (AHL) and made his Flames season debut... Niklas Backstrom will start against his former team in Calgary's final game Saturday in Minnesota.