The Arizona Coyotes are not a particularly good hockey team. They’ve played well for the last few weeks and entered tonight’s game on a winning streak, but they’re still dead-last in the National Hockey League’s standings. This was a game that the Calgary Flames were expected to win and, after a few recent losses, really needed to have. The Flames played desperate, clinical hockey for the better part of three periods and decisively beat the Coyotes 5-2 to capture a very important pair of points in the Western Conference playoff race.

This game did not begin well for the Flames. 57 seconds into the game, Derek Stepan tipped an Oliver Ekman-Larsson shot on Jon Gillies, then tucked his own rebound behind him to make it 1-0. That lead lasted half the period, but eventually the Flames tied things up. Sam Bennett tipped a Johnny Gaudreau pass in the slot past Antti Raanta to make it 1-1. Before the period ended, the Flames took the lead: Gaudreau confidently strode towards Raanta and beat him five-hole to make it 2-1.

Shots were 9-5 Coyotes, chances were 12-5 Coyotes.

The Flames took over the game in the second period. Mikael Backlund batted in a bad-angle rebound early in the period, but the goal was disallowed due to being knocked in with a high stick. But later in the period, Sean Monahan scored a power play goal off a nice Dougie Hamilton pass to make it 3-1.

Shots were 12-11 Coyotes, but scoring chances were 7-5 Flames.

With Matt Stajan in the box early in the third, Mark Jankowski made it 4-1 with a great individual effort to muscle his way to the net – shorthanded – and beat Raanta.

Matthew Tkachuk scored later in the period to make it 5-1. Kevin Connauton scored late on a deflection off Travis Hamonic’s shinpads to make it 5-2. But that’s as close as the Coyotes got. Shots were 15-4 Flames and chances were 8-7 Flames.

After looking overwhelmed for much of the past few games, the Flames looked engaged, sharp, and just plain better than Arizona. Let’s be honest here: it’s Arizona, and they’re in 31st place. You would expect the Flames to beat them soundly. But the Flames were full marks for their efforts and in a game that was a must-win for them, they really didn’t let up after a brief lull to kick the game off.

It’s gotta be Gaudreau. He had three points and was very engaged all evening. But Bennett and Tkachuk were also dialed-in, and Jankowski also looked quite good.

A disallowed goal swung the game in Vegas, as the Flames were deflated by it. A disallowed goal sparked the Flames tonight, as they dug their heels in following Backlund’s disallowed goal. Monahan’s power play goal gave the Flames a cushion and some breathing room and they never looked back.

It was a game of near-miss injuries and then an actual injury. First, Gaudreau took Bennett’s stick to the face during the opening faceoff. Later, Zac Rinaldo nailed Matt Stajan with a stiff check. Stajan briefly left the game, and Micheal Ferland trounced Rinaldo in a fight… and then left the game after two periods.

The Flames now have 71 points with 20 games remaining. They need 25 points over their remaining schedule – the equivalent of a 12-7-1 record to hit the 96 point mark that’ll probably be the playoff cut-off.

The Flames (31-22-9) are staying overnight in Phoenix tonight, then heading back home tomorrow. They host the Colorado Avalanche in afternoon game on Saturday.