Giordano, Frolick, Backlund leads Flames to win over Coyotes

CALGARY, ALBERTA >> Balanced scoring has helped the Calgary Flames snap out of a funk.

Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund each had a goal and an assist in the third period to help the 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 Calgary win its second straight to improve to 3-3-2 since the All-Star break. Czarnik and Ryan combined for a goal and three assists in Saturday’s 5-4 win over Pittsburgh, which ended a four-game skid (0-2-2).

“We’ve had some depth scoring come through, which is important,” Flames coach Bill Peters said.

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) for Calgary.

“I feel more like myself in the net and it’s paying off,” Smith said. “It’s a good time of year to be playing well.”

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.

Czarnik got his second goal in two games after being a healthy scratch for the previous nine, giving the Flames a 3-2 lead with

3:42 left in the second. Subbing in on Calgary’s third line again for the injured James Neal, Czarnik snared the puck on a broken play and scored from his knees with a low shot.

“Feels great. Being out that long, it’s hard to adjust right away. Your breath is a little short probably,” Czarnik said. “To be able to do that builds confidence and I just want to keep that going if I can.

LIGHTNING 5, BLUE JACKETS 1 >> 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.

Columbus outshot the Lightning 19-6 in the first period, but Kucherov scored twice. He first beat Korpisalo top shelf off a lead pass from Yanni Gourde with 8:42 left, and then nabbed a turnover in the neutral zone and slipped it through the goalie’s fivehole with 5:36 remaining for his 29th of the season.

Stamkos made it 3-0 with just 28.1 seconds left in the second, 4 seconds into a

5-on-3 power play when he buried his 33rd off a pass from Kucherov.

Point made it 4-0 just 12 seconds into the third on a power play from just above the circles off a feed from Kucherov. That extended Point’s point streak to five games. Point then got his

35th only 34 seconds later just later off a pass from Kucherov.

Sedlak spoiled Vasilevskiy’s bid for a third straight shutout with 1:45 left.