CALGARY, Alberta --Mark Giordano had two goals and an assist in his 800th career game and the Calgary Flames defeated the Arizona Coyotes 7-1 Sunday night.
Giordano, the Flames' captain, has 47 points (nine goals, 38 assists) in 45 games this season, second among NHL defensemen and five points behind San Jose's Brent Burns.
Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals, and Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Sam Bennett also scored for Calgary, which has won five straight and improved to 8-1-1 in its last 10. The Flames lead the Pacific Division by three points over the Sharks.
Gaudreau also had an assist, extending his point streak to eight games (eight goals, 10 assists). With 69 points, he ranks second in the league in scoring, six points back of Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov.
Jordan Oesterle scored for Arizona, which had its three-game winning streak halted.
Mike Smith got the start in the nets for Calgary in place of red-hot David Rittich. He made 22 saves and improved to 13-9-1.
Adin Hill had 19 saves for the Coyotes and fell to 7-5.
Calgary surged in front on two goals 68 seconds apart late in the first period.
At 16:51, Giordano got the puck in the corner and fired a shot into the top corner from a sharp angle.
Then Monahan was left alone in the slot and he converted Gaudreau's pass from behind the net.
After Tkachuk's goal 1:36 into the second period, Gaudreau scored at 17:20 to make it 4-0. Michael Frolik's shot was stopped, but Monahan slid the rebound over to Gaudreau and he was left with an empty net.
Oesterle scored a power-play goal for Arizona, but that was erased when Tkachuk scored his second at 4:20. Less than two minutes later, Giordano added his second.
NOTES: Calgary D Travis Hamonic (family illness) was a late scratch. He was replaced by Dalton Prout. ... Arizona's Conor Garland had his four-game, goal-scoring streak snapped. ... The Flames improve to 22-3-0 in games they score first. ... Calgary has a league-best plus-38 goal differential in the third period.
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Coyotes ost San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.
