Arizona Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka makes a save on Calgary Flames centre Jonathan Huberdeau in the third period at Mullett Arena. The Flames won 6-3 on Feb. 22, 2023.Matt Kartozian
Jakob Pelletier and Walker Duehr scored goals 25 seconds apart in the third period and the Calgary Flames rallied to beat the Arizona Coyotes 6-3 on Wednesday night.
Calgary’s Mikael Backlund scored with 3:19 left to cap the scoring. It was his 13th of the season and was the Flames’ third power-play tally of the night.
Milan Lucic, Elias Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli also scored for the Flames, who opened a three-game swing as they chase the top eight in the Western Conference playoff race. It was their first time playing at Mullett Arena. They outshot the Coyotes 52-14.
Lindholm, who also had an assist, reached 500 career points.
“Our season is on the line, and we played a solid game,” Lindholm said. “Stuck with it and got the results.”
Calgary went up 4-3 with 15:07 left on Pelletier’s goal after Arizona’s Matias Maccelli had been penalized for tripping. Just 26 seconds later, Duehr made it 5-3.
Pelletier’s winner was his second career goal – the 2019 first-round pick played in just his 12th NHL game. “It’s time for me to step up and score goals,” he said.
Duehr was recalled from the Calgary Wranglers of the American Hockey League on Tuesday and contributed a goal and an assist.
“We needed the young guys,” Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. “Walker’s pace and his speed makes a difference to our team.”
Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller and Maccelli scored goals for the Coyotes, who saw their nine-game points streak (5-0-4) come to an end. It had been the longest such streak running in the NHL and only six have been longer in the NHL this season.
“I think they were desperate, faster and they played a better game than us,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said.
Calgary dominated the shots on goal, with an 18-3 edge after the first period. But the only goal of the period was scored by Lucic, from in close on a nice feed from Duehr.
Karol Vejmelka managed to keep the Flames off the board the remainder of the period. In the first minute of the second period, the Flames’ Mikael Backlund went off for tripping, the first penalty assessed in the game. Then 29 seconds later, Schmaltz scored his 16th goal on a one-timer from Keller’s cross-ice pass. Juuso Valimaki also assisted on the goal at 1:11.
Keller was penalized for tripping at 7:09 of the second. But Vejmelka and the Coyotes killed the penalty, and Keller returned to the ice and scored his 24th of the season, unassisted, at 9:31.
Arizona made it 3-1 at 11:06 when Maccelli beat Dan Vlagar on the short side for his fourth goal, also unassisted. At that point the Coyotes were being outshot 30-8.
The lead didn’t last long. Arizona was assessed a bench penalty during a line change and 7 seconds into the Calgary power play, Lindholm put home a rebound off Toffoli’s shot at 12:58. Toffoli tied it 1:02 later with a high shot from the blue line that beat Vejmelka for his 24th goal of the season. Lindholm assisted on that goal.
No, brother
The Flames’ Brett Ritchie and the Coyotes’ Nick Ritchie missed a chance to go against each other when Brett was a scratch for the second straight game. The brothers and former Boston Bruins teammates faced each other in the teams’ first meeting in December, won by the Flames 3-2 in Calgary.
Congrats
Calgary D Chris Tanev played in his 700th NHL game Wednesday. Tanev, who broke in with Vancouver in 2011, ranks fourth among undrafted players in career games. Toronto’s Mark Giordano (1,081) leads that list.
Up next
Flames: At Vegas on Thursday night.
Coyotes: Host Nashville on Sunday.