Arizona Coyotes goaltender Karel Vejmelka, right, makes a save on a shot by Calgary Flames center Trevor Lewis as Flames center Sean Monahan, rear, watches during the second period. The Flames won 4-2 on Feb. 2, 2022, in Glendale, Ariz.Ross D. Franklin/The Associated Press
Christopher Tanev scored the go-ahead goal and had three assists, Blake Coleman scored twice and the Calgary Flames beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-2 on Wednesday night for their fifth win in six games.
Elias Lindholm also scored, and Jacob Markstrom had 24 saves for Calgary, which had 50 shots on goal. The Flames have won three straight.
“Three big wins in a row, back-to-back against two good teams,” Tanev said. “We have to parlay that into the home games when we get home” after the All-Star break.
Coleman opened the scoring three minutes into the game and added his second score for a 4-2 lead with eight minutes remaining.
“I thought it was a pretty good effort all around, and obviously it was good to get some personal contributions to the team,” Coleman said.
Clayton Keller and Alex Galchenyuk scored for the Coyotes and goaltender Karel Vejmelka made 46 saves, including a franchise-record 24 in the first period while facing a franchise-record 26 shots.
“I thought we deserved to win,” Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said. “We could have been up four or five in the first period.”
Keller, Arizona’s All-Star, added an assist and extended his points streak to six games, tying a career high. He has three goals and five assists during the streak.
Galchenyuk had his second goal in as many games, and he was the only scorer in the shootout in Coyotes’ 3-2 victory at Colorado on Tuesday, which snapped the Avalanche’s 10-game winning streak and 18-game home win streak.
Arizona had a two-man advantage for the final two minutes after pulling its goalie and a Calgary penalty, but could not score.
When presented with a question, Sutter scoffed at the notion that the Flames (23-13-6) were “supposed” to beat the Coyotes (11-30-4), who have the fewest wins and the fewest points in the Western Conference.
“You are not ‘supposed’ to win a game like tonight,” Sutter said.
“They just beat the best team in the conference and the Stanley Cup favourites last night, and they are coming home. They have a lot of young energy. The league is a lot closer than anybody thinks about.”
Coleman scored from the right circle less than three minutes into the game to give the Flames a 1-0 lead, scoring five seconds after the Coyotes killed off a slashing penalty on Lawson Crouse, who could not get back into the play.
Galchenyuk tied the game at 1-all at 8:34 of the first period. He tipped in a wrist shot from Jacob Chychrun from the right point.
Lindholm made it 2-1 with 10 seconds remaining in the first period, flipping a wrist shot from the right circle in the far side after controlling Johnny Gaudreau’s pass from behind the net.
“The first period they were all over us. It was a grind,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “But the damage was done, in the sense they wore us down. `Veggie’ was rock solid. But we don’t kid ourselves, Calgary was dominant tonight.”
Keller’s quick wrist slot from the slot after a centring pass from Nick Schmaltz tied it at 2-2 less than five minutes into the second period.
Tanev gave the Flames a 3-2 lead at 15:15 of the third when his shot from the right point got through a screen by Andrew Mangiapane in front of the net and past Vejmelka.
“‘Veggiei’ really kept us in and gave up a chance at the end,” Chychrun said.
Notes
Calgary D Erik Gudbranson and Arizona F Liam O’Brien received five-minute penalties for fighting midway through the first period, squaring off after O’Brien checked Gudbranson into the boards behind the Calgary net. Gudbranson immediately challenged O’Brien and two traded punches before Gudbranson knocked O’Brien to the ice and officials intervened. O’Brien leads the league with 94 penalty minutes. “I know what my job is,” said O’Brien, who had a welt on his right cheek postgame. “I get to play in the National Hockey League. It’s not like there is anything better than that.” ... Arizona is 2-8 in the second game of back-to-backs. Calgary is 4-2-1 ... At the halfway point of the season, the Flames led the Pacific Division with a plus-30 goal differential.
Up next
Calgary: Hosts Vegas on Wednesday.
Arizona: Plays at Vancouver on Tuesday.