Gaudreau pots two to spark Flames

Johnny Gaudreau scored twice and Sam Bennett had three assists as the Calgary Flames picked up their first pre-season win on Friday night with a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

With Sean Monahan getting the night off, his spot centring Calgary’s top line with Gaudreau and Micheal Ferland was taken by Bennett and the 21-year-old took full advantage of the opportunity.

At 12:30 of the first period, it was Bennett setting up Gaudreau’s one-timer for a power-play goal that tied the score 1-1.

With Calgary up 2-1 late in the second, Bennett’s slick bank-pass sprung Gaudreau on his second breakaway of the period. As he fended off defenceman Adam Clendening and after being stopped initially by Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue, he got just enough of the puck on the rebound to get it over the goal-line.

Ferland and Mark Jankowski, with his third goal in as many games, also scored for Calgary (13-0), which had opened the preseason with three straight losses.

Mario Kempe and Dysin Mayo scored for Arizona (1-1-0).

The winning goal came at 15:42 of the first when Ferland, in the high slot, neatly deflected TJ Brodie’s slap-pass inside the far post.

Playing against his former team, Flames goaltender Mike Smith went the distance, finishing with 15 saves.

Meanwhile, Domingue allowed three goals on 19 shots in his 40 minutes of work in the Arizona net. Adin Hill was sharp in the third period for Arizona, stopping 15 of 16 shots.