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 The defenseman's tiebreaking goal 1:47 into the third period gave
the Coyotes a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Arizona hadn't won in Calgary since Feb. 23, 2012, a span of eight
games.
Defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson also scored for the Coyotes
(20-16-4). Right winger Anthony Duclair recorded two assists.
Left winger Johnny Gaudreau scored for the Flames (19-19-2).
Center Martin Hanzal returned to the Coyotes' lineup to fill a big
hole. He had missed seven games with a lower-body injury.
"He's a big body out there," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett. "You don't
realize how much you miss him until he comes back. He solidifies our
center ice, so it's certainly good to have him back."
Hanzal centered Duclair and left winger Tobias Rieder on a line that
looked very compatible.
"It's nice to see (Duclair and Rieder) playing well when I get back,
but I think as a team we played a really strong game," Hanzal said.
"We had a such a good road trip, and the last games of a trip, are
hard and we played really well."
After completing a 2-0-1 trip to Western Canada, second-place
Arizona moves three points up on third-place Vancouver Canucks and
four ahead of fourth-place Calgary in the Pacific Division.
"We created a lot of chances and hung around the game until we could
find a way to win, and (goaltender Louis) Domingue was good,"
Tippett said.
"We answered their power-play goal in the first. It was a tight
game, and I'm happy for our guys."
The Coyotes picked up five of six points on the trip behind
Domingue, who is unbeaten in regulation time in his past seven
starts and has allowed four goals during that time.
He made 25 saves, while Calgary goalie Karri Ramo stopped 31 shots.
"We've been scoring huge goals in the third period for a while, and
in meaningful games it's going to be important to be a third-period
team," Domingue said.
"We played so good tonight. We kept them in their zone for most of
the third, so it made it easy on me."
Unlike Tippett, Flames coach Bob Hartley was not happy. His postgame
media session was short and to the point.
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"I'm very disappointed because those are the games where you need to
compete to win battles. We didn't have everyone tonight, plain and
simple. You can't win when you have five, six guys going. It's sad,
but we were just not good enough," he said.
Gaudreau opened the scoring on the power play at 14:37. He took a
cross-ice pass from center Sean Monahan and buried a one-timer over
a diving Domingue.
After a hot December that earned him the NHL's first star for the
month, the slippery Gaudreau cooled off to start the new year and
had not registered a point in four previous games this month.
The Coyotes gave the Flames very few openings, captain Mark Giordano
said.
"They play that tight-checking style; they're a good road team that
works hard," the defenseman said. "I just felt like we didn't make
enough clean plays. We had looks, we had chances to make plays, and
we just didn't do it all night. For some reason, we were a little
bit out of synch, and we did have some chances, but fell short at
the end."
Ekman-Larsson tied the game at 18:11 of the first period, also on
the power play, with a soft goal. His slow wrist shot made it all
the way to Ramo along the ice through a handful of players, and Ramo
let it get by as well and into the net.
NOTES: Calgary C Jiri Hudler, who has 20 points in 35 games, missed
his second consecutive contest because of a groin injury, and he is
expected to be off skates for the next week. "We have no target
dates yet on his return," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. ... Also
injured for Calgary is RW Michael Frolik (upper body). ... The
Flames' healthy scratches were D Ladislav Smid and LW Brandon
Bollig. ... The Coyotes' injured list includes G Mike Smith
(abdominal), C Joe Vitale (fractured orbital bone) and D Zbynek
Michalek (upper body). ... Arizona's scratches were RW Steve Downie
and LW John Scott. ... The Coyotes assigned rookie C Laurent
Dauphine to AHL Springfield.
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