Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk both collected two goals and two assists, and the playoff-bound Calgary Flames rode a six-goal second period to a 9-1 home victory over the cellar-dwelling Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Elias Lindholm scored once in a four-point game while Dillon Dube tallied twice, and Andrew Mangiapane and Blake Coleman added singles for the Pacific Division-leading Flames (46-20-9, 101 points).
Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves. Calgary, which officially clinched a playoff spot, has a seven-point edge on the Edmonton Oilers in the chase for the division title.
Nick Ritchie replied for the Coyotes (22-48-5, 49 points), who have lost six straight games — in which they’ve surrendered at least five goals in each outing and been outscored by a 38-7 margin.
Starting goalie Harri Sateri stopped 24 shots, while Karel Vejmelka stopped eight of 10 in a relief appearance.
Ritchie converted on Arizona’s first shot to open the scoring 30 seconds into the affair, a lead the Coyotes held through the first period, but the hosts found their game and turned it into a whitewash after the intermission.
Dube opened the floodgates when he scored 38 seconds into the second period. Mangiapane notched his 32nd of the season at the 1:36 mark thanks to great forecheck work by his linemates, and then Tkachuk was fed a blind pass from Gaudreau for a tap-in tally and his first of the game 62 seconds later.
Dube scored Calgary’s fourth goal in a 2:33 span — the second fastest four-goal outburst in franchise history — by holding off a pair of defenders before depositing his 13th of the season.
The onslaught didn’t end after they scored four goals on their first four shots of the period.
Coleman buried his 15th of the season later in the frame and then Lindholm notched his 39th with 61 seconds left in the frame. Six goals tied the franchise record for second most in a period. The Coyotes managed only five shots in the period.
Gaudreau added a pair of third-period markers, which gives him 36 on the season, and Tkachuk buried a Lindholm feed for his 39th of the campaign.
–Field Level Media