Flames snap Coyotes' win streak in 'sluggish' performance for Arizona

The good news is that, if the Coyotes truly did have cobwebs after their four-day hiatus, the Calgary Flames burned them away with a 5-2 win over Arizona on Thursday at Gila River Arena.

Although the Coyotes scored first, the Flames rode a stretch of five unanswered goals to snap Arizona’s four-game win streak and stretch of six straight games with at least one point. The Coyotes were 0-for-5 on the power play.

“I don’t have really one thing that was off tonight,” center Derek Stepan said. “We were just off and that happens in an 82-game schedule. I think we can do a better job of managing that, and we have to give them credit because when they had opportunities, they scored.”

Stepan opened the scoring with his 11th of the season just 57 seconds into the game. It was the sixth straight game in which the Coyotes have scored first.

Flames goaltender Jon Gillies played the puck behind his own net where it was corralled along the right wing boards by Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers, who sent a cross-ice pass to Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Ekman-Larsson threw the shot back on net, where it was tipped in front by Stepan. Creating a rebound off his initial redirection, Stepan stayed with the puck and was able to put it home to give Arizona a 1-0 lead.

But Gillies and the Flames would take over following the first-minute goal, and the former Providence College goaltender — who won a national championship in 2015 — posted 35 saves in the win over Arizona.

The Flames would soon find their legs when Calgary winger Sam Bennett evened the game at 11:02 of the first with a redirection in front of Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta. Flames winger Johnny Gaudreau sent a feed in front and Bennett was able to find Raanta’s five-hole.

It was Gaudreau again just over three minutes later as he skated close to the blocker side of Raanta and found a microscopic hole between the goalie’s pads and the left post at 13:18 of the opening frame to give the Flames a 2-1 lead as play moved to the second period.

“We were sluggish tonight,” Coyotes head coach Rick Tocchet said. “We had a good start, but two blown coverages on Calgary’s first and second goal. The power play wasn’t good.”

The Coyotes skated on the man advantage five times and only managed significant pressure on their final power play of the game late in the third period.

"I saw (the power play) get frustrated,” Tocchet said. “I saw some guys not working hard enough and taking it for granted. I did like the one (power play) where we had a chance to score but we were just off.

“For whatever reason, I’ve got to get this team better. That’s four days off and that’s my fault on that.”

Raanta said that, although the four-day break came at an inopportune time, it was not an excuse the team was about to use in order to explain Thursday’s performance.

“It would be easy to make excuses for that,” Raanta, who made 33 saves, said. “But when you play at this level you need to make sure that you’re ready to play. It doesn’t matter if you have four days off or you’re playing four days in a row.

“Of course, we had a good roll there so it was unfortunate we needed to sit for four days. We still had good practice days and we felt good today but couldn’t capitalize it on the game today.”

The Flames made it 3-1 on the power play when center Sean Monahan redirected a shot sent to the net by defenseman Dougie Hamilton, the brother of Coyotes forward Freddie Hamilton. With Raanta still sliding across the crease to protect a potential shot from Hamilton, Monahan was able to find open net at 8:38 of the second.

The Coyotes were staked to their fifth power play of the night just a few minutes into the third period and still could not solve Gillies in the crease. After winger Brendan Perlini sent a shot off the crossbar, Flames center Mark Jankowski skated the other way for a shorthanded goal at 5:11 of the third to make it 4-1 in favor of Calgary.

Flames winger Matthew Tkachuk, the son of former Coyotes forward Keith Tkachuk, scored at 11:06 of the third to give the Flames a four-goal advantage. Arizona defenseman Kevin Connauton scored at 17:31 to make it a 5-2 final in favor of Calgary.

With back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks and Vancouver Canucks, respectively, the Coyotes will quickly have a chance to redeem themselves

“You’ve got to flush this one down and get ready for back-to-back this weekend,” Stepan said.

Den’s digest

The score: Flames 5, Coyotes 2.

The streak: L1.

The record: 17-33-10, 8th in Pacific.

The 82-game pace: 23-45-14.

The player: Johnny Gaudreau.

The moment: Gaudreau’s go-ahead goal at 13:18 of the first period.

The number: 4 — After a four-day break, the Coyotes had a four-game win streak snapped on Thursday.

The quote: “I was just worried about myself and kind of felt like I couldn’t make any of those big saves today. Those first three goals are ones that, when you have (your best game), you’re not going to let those in. I just need to refocus and get back to work tomorrow.” — Coyotes goaltender Antti Raanta evaluating his performance on Thursday.

View from the press box: After a four-game break, this was a discouraging performance by the Coyotes. However, with a back-to-back this weekend and providing they make the necessary adjustments, the Coyotes have an opportunity to regain their momentum lost on Thursday.

Song of the night: “Best Excuse” by Handguns.

MORE:Coyotes' new goaltender Darcy Kuemper 'excited' for future

COYOTES SCHEDULE:Ducks, Canucks and Wild up next for Arizona