Coyotes 7, Flames 1

CALGARY, Alberta (AP)—Rookie forward Ramzi Abid and goalie Zac Bierk are making the most of their opportunities with the Phoenix Coyotes.

Abid had two goals and an assist and Bierk made 39 saves as the Coyotes scored four first-period goals and cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

Abid’s second two-goal game gave him six goals and six assists in just 18 games since being recalled from Springfield of the AHL on Dec. 14.

“I worked hard to get here and when they called me up, they said they were going to give me a real shot,” said Abid, 22, recalled the day after Landon Wilson injured his eye. “I’m aware that I have to work hard to stay here.”

Bierk was impressive again in goal.

Promoted from Springfield on Jan. 4 after the Coyotes lost both Sean Burke and Brian Boucher to knee injuries on the same day, Bierk has a 1.16 goals-against average to go with a save percentage of .959.

“He’s been phenomenal for us and it’s nice to finally get him another win,” said forward Shane Doan, who had a goal and an assist. “And we didn’t even give him the night off, they still had so many shots.”

Bierk has played better than his 2-3-1 record indicates. In his first four starts, the Coyotes scored just two goals.

“For a couple weeks, we’ve had a hard time putting the puck in the net so it’s good for us to finally break out of that goal-scoring slump,” Bierk said. “It also changes our mindset as now guys are going to be more likely to go for the opportunities.”

Ossi Vaananen, Daymond Langkow, Daniel Briere, and Paul Mara also scored for Phoenix, which won its second straight and continued its domination of Calgary.

“It’s important for us to keep this momentum going,” Bierk said. “We want to be on a high going into the All-Star break.”

The Coyotes are 8-0-2 in Calgary since Oct. 30, 1997. Since moving from Winnipeg to Phoenix, the Coyotes are 18-3-4 against the Flames.

Chris Drury scored for Calgary, which had its three-game unbeaten streak snapped.

“It’s embarrassing,” Flames right wing Scott Nichol said. “It seemed the harder we tried, the less we got accomplished.”

The first bad sign for the Flames came at 2:04 when Flames goalie Roman Turek muffed Vaananen’s harmless-looking shot from the blue line—letting it deflect in off his blocker. It was Vaananen’s first goal this season.

Abid put Phoenix ahead 2-0 at 4:17 redirecting a point shot from Deron Quint past Turek.

Flames coach Darryl Sutter pulled Turek after that goal and replaced him with Jamie McLennan, but the change didn’t stem the Coyote momentum.

Less than five minutes later, Abid connected on Phoenix’s two-man advantage.

“There’s no excuses when you get beat 7-1, everything went wrong and there isn’t one bright spot,” Nichol said. “We got our nose rubbed in it, everyone’s pride is hurt, and we have to bounce back from it.”

Making matters worse, Calgary lost Sutter halfway through the first period when a wayward puck deflected over the boards and hit Sutter in the face.

Sutter was back behind the bench to begin the second period after having a long gash running from his left eye down the side of his nose stitched up.

After Drury’s power-play goal got the Flames on the scoreboard at 16:13 of the first, Langkow restored the Coyotes’ three-goal lead by firing a rebound past McLennan at 17:52.

Phoenix added goals from Daniel Briere and Shane Doan in the second periodand Mara scored the lone goal of the third.

Notes

Calgary LW Martin Gelinas missed his first game due to a bruised thumb sustained against Edmonton on Monday. He is day-to-day. … Flames RW Jarome Iginla entered last on the Flames with a minus-15. Iginla led the club with a plus-27 last season. … The latest Coyotes player to join the injury list is Brad May, who was scratched due to a groin injury sustained in practice Thursday. May’s spot was taken by Paul Ranheim, who returned after missing sixgames with a bad back.