Arizona 4, Calgary 1
When: 9:00 PM ET, Friday, March 11, 2016
Where: Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, Alberta
Referees:
Steve Kozari, Brian Pochmara
Linesmen:
Michel Cormier, Shane Heyer
Attendance:
19289
By The Sports Xchange
CALGARY, Alberta -- Arizona Coyotes goalie Louis Domingue has become the Calgary Flames nemesis very quickly.
The rookie southpaw improved to 3-0 against Calgary this season on Friday. He stopped 25 shots Friday and his teammates provided him with three goals in the third period as the Coyotes dumped the Calgary Flames 4-1.
"Louie was excellent. There were a lot of pucks laying around the crease there and the one he got beat on he had no chance," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said.
Brad Richardson with two and Antoine Vermette on the power play scored third-period goals and the Coyotes ended their franchise-record road losing streak at 10 games.
Boyd Gordon scored a shorthanded goal in the second period for Arizona (29-32-7). Richardson's second goal of the period into an empty net iced the game with 1:41 remaining.
Mikael Backlund replied for Calgary (28-35-4) with a short-handed goal to open the scoring early in the second period.
"We kept the puck out of the zone and kept their chances to a minimum and I thought we were pretty good in the game," said Domingue.
Domingue has stopped 76 of 79 shots in his three wins over the Flames.
Neither team is in contention for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Arizona is nine points back of the second wild card spot with 14 games remaining and the Flames are 13 points out with the same number of games.
The Flames have not won back-to-back home games in more than two months since they beat the Buffalo Sabres and New York Rangers Dec. 10 and Dec. 12 as part of a seven-game winning streak.
"Against them it's always tight checking and you're not going to get a ton of chances and you have to capitalize on the one's you get," said Flames head coach Bob Hartley.
"We hit a post and had a couple of chances that went wide off chances and Domingue was beaten, but we were not sharp enough around the other team's net."
The Flames had defenseman Dennis Wideman back in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 27, when he was suspended for 20 games for running into and injuring linesman Don Henderson in a game.
Wideman had his 20-game suspension reduced to 10 by an independent arbitrator earlier Friday. The game with Arizona would have been the 19th of his suspension.
After a sluggish first period, the game's first goal came quickly in the second, a shorthanded goal by the Flames. Left winger Michael Frolik stole the puck at center ice, skated in and fed Backlund, who didn't miss into a wide-open net.
Arizona tied the game with their own short-handed goal at 15:01. Gordon took a nice pass from Jordan Martinook on a break-in and batted it in out of mid air past Flames goalie Joni Ortio.
The Coyotes took the lead on the power play 3:15 into the third. Vermette snuck to the side of the net and redirected a pass from Martin Hanzal. Richardson banged in Shane Doan's rebound at 14:18.
"Too many really soft plays cost us the game," said Flames captain Mark Giordano. "They're a good transition team who wait for you to make mistakes. I just felt like we gave them that one with soft plays by us."
NOTES: Calgary recalled LW Kenny Agostino from AHL Stockton on Friday and he played on a line with C Mikael Backlund and RW Michael Frolik. The Morristown, N.J. native's only previous NHL experience was eight games with the Flames in 2014 after coming to Calgary from the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Jaroma Iginla trade. ... The Flames were without D TJ Brodie and C Sam Bennett with undisclosed injuries. Their healthy scratches were G Niklas Backstrom and D Tyler Wotherspoon. ... Coyotes leading scorer, D Oliver Ekman-Larsson, missed his second straight game after suffering an upper-body injury on Monday at Colorado. Healthy scratches for Arizona were C Kyle Chipchura and LW Jiri Sekac. ... Flames LW Johnny Gaudreau had a league-high 48 home points entering the game. He had 66 points in total, two better than his total from last season, his first full year in the league. ... Coyotes C Alex Tanguay, a former Flame, had five points (two goals) in his first three games with Arizona after being acquired from Colorado at the Feb. 29 trade deadline.
Top Game Performances
Arizona |
|
Calgary |
Brad Richardson 2 |
Points |
Mikael Backlund 1 |
Brad Richardson 2 |
Goals |
Mikael Backlund 1 |
Shane Doan 2 |
Assists |
Michael Frolik 1 |
Antoine Vermette 1 |
Power Play Goals |
N/A |
Boyd Gordon 1 |
Short Handed Goals |
Mikael Backlund 1 |
Louis Domingue .960 |
Save Percentage |
Joni Ortio .880 |
Louis Domingue 24 |
Saves |
Joni Ortio 22 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Shots |
Goals |
Power Play |
Penalty Kill |
Penalty Mins |
Face Offs Won |
Arizona
|
26 |
4 |
1-4 |
3-3 |
6 |
33 |
Calgary
|
25 |
1 |
0-3 |
3-4 |
8 |
32 |
Upcoming Games
-
Calgary will play their next game at home against St. Louis. The Flames have a W/L % of .429 after a win and .400 after a loss.
-
Arizona will play their next game on the road against Edmonton. The Coyotes have a W/L % of .464 after a win and .400 after a loss.