Balanced Flames top Coyotes to get second straight victory
Kucherov leads Lightning to win
CALGARY, Alberta — Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund each had a goal and an assist in the third period to help the Calgary Flames beat the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.
Mark Giordano also had a goal and an assist, and Derek Ryan and Austin Czarnik had the other goals for the Flames, who won their second straight to improve to 3-3-2 since the All-Star break. Elias Lindholm assisted on both third-period goals, Rasmus Andersson also had two assists, and Mike Smith stopped 27 shots in his third straight start (2-0-1).
Conor Garland and Jordan Weal scored for the Coyotes. Calvin Pickard finished with 29 saves in his third start for Arizona since being claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Nov. 29.
Frolik extended Calgary’s lead to 4-2 at 5:48 of the third period off Arizona’s defensive-zone turnover. Lindholm skated the puck out from the boards and dished to the Czech, who chipped the puck by Pickard stick-side.
Backlund added an empty-netter with 1:12 left.
LIGHTNING 5, BLUE JACKETS
1: In Columbus, Ohio, Nikita Kucherov had two goals and three assists, and Tampa Bay beat Columbus for its sixth straight win.
Brayden Point scored twice and Steven Stamkos also had a goal for the Lightning, who are 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 40 shots and got his 26th win. Kucherov now has 99 points to lead the league, with seven goals in the last five games.
Lukas Sedlak scored and Joonas Korpisalo finished with 15 saves for the Blue Jackets, who had won four straight. BLACKHAWKS 8, SENATORS 7: In Chicago, Alex DeBrincat had three goals and two assists, and Chicago held on to beat Ottawa.
Patrick Kane scored his 36th goal and added two assists to extend his point streak to 18 games — with 14 goals and 26 assists during the stretch— the longest by a player in the NHL this season. Dylan Strome also had a goal and two assists in his fourth three-point game since joining the Blackhawks on Nov. 25, and Brandon Saad, Gustav Forsling and Jonathan Toews also scored.
The 21-year-old DeBrincat’s five points set a career high. His fourth NHL hat trick gives him 32 goals in his second season.
Colin White had two goals and an assist, Thomas Chabot scored twice, and Mark Stone, Bobby Ryan and Rudolfs Balcers also had goals for NHL-worst Ottawa.
AVALANCHE 3, GOLDEN
KNIGHTS 0: In Denver, Andrew Agozzino scored his first NHL goal, Semyon Varlamov stopped 40 shots for his second shutout of the season and Colorado ended a sixgame home skid by beating Vegas.
Tyson Jost and Matt Calvert also scored as the Avalanche won their first game at the Pepsi Center since Jan. 19. Agozzino also added an assist.
Malcolm Subban had 35 saves for a Golden Knights team that’s now dropped eight of their last 11 games. Subban started back-toback games for the first time all season with Vegas electing to rest Marc-Andre Fleury.
Calvert gave Colorado a threegoal cushion with 13:07 remaining. The play was reviewed when it appeared he knocked it in with his glove. But the officials ruled he last powered in the puck with his stick after it struck his glove.