GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Shane Doan snapped a 2-2 tie by scoring his 350th career goal on the third of five consecutive power-play chances in the first 13 minutes of the third period and goalie Mike Smith kept his team in the game with 30 saves to lead the Phoenix Coyotes to a 3-2 win against the Calgary Flames at Jobing.com Arena on Saturday night.
The Coyotes won for the fifth time in the past seven games and pulled even with the Dallas Stars for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 75 points. The Stars have two games in hand.
Phoenix has now beaten the Flames nine times in the past 10 meetings at home, outscoring the Flames 34-16 in those games. But this one was a struggle.
Smith was at his best in the second period, stopping 17 of 19 Calgary shots, several of them from point-blank range with no defender in the area. Smith has a 1.91 goals-against average in his past 13 starts.
Chris Summers and Rob Klinkhammer gave the Coyotes a quick 2-0 lead with goals in the first 9:43 of the game. But the Flames answered with power-play goals from Curtis Glencross and Mikael Backlund during a dominant second period, when only Smith's acrobatics kept the game even.
The Coyotes regained their aggressive play in the third period and the Flames spent 10 minutes of the first 13:13 of the period killing penalties. Phoenix didn't get a single shot on the first three power plays but Doan tipped a Keith Yandle shot from the point past Calgary goalie Joni Ortio at 8:49 to put the Coyotes ahead to stay.
Ortio finished with 22 saves for the Flames.
The Coyotes beat Calgary 6-0 here on Jan. 7 and were off and running again in the first period, making the most of their 10 shots to build a lead.
David Moss fed Lauri Korpikoski on a rush while Summers dug hard up the middle for the net. Korpikoski found him with a pass and Summers tipped the puck over Ortio's shoulder at 4:35 for his first NHL goal in his 34th game.
Klinkhammer, who was benched twice on the three-game Eastern road trip and had gone 19 games without a goal, was the recipient of a fortuitous bounce at 9:43. Ortio went back to play Paul Bissonnette's dump-in behind the net, but mishandled the puck and it squirted between his legs. Klinkhammer, who played his 100th NHL game, was lurking at the post and stuffed in the gift-wrapped opportunity to make it 2-0 Phoenix.
Smith saw only eight shots in the period, but made big stops on Mike Cammalleri and TJ Galiardi to keep the Flames off the board.
But the second period was all Flames. They outshot the Coyotes 19-7, had all of the choice chances and exploited the struggling Phoenix penalty kill to draw even.
After Phoenix defenseman Derek Morris took down Calgary's Lance Bouma, Glencross camped in front of the Coyotes crease and tipped a Cammalleri wrist shot past Smith at 7:46. Glencross' seventh goal of the season was his first since missing 29 games with a high ankle sprain.
The Flames kept coming and Smith made huge saves on Bouma, Cammalleri, Sean Monahan and Backlund to keep Phoenix ahead. But another penalty, this one to Jeff Halpern for tripping, gave Calgary another opportunity.
Cammalleri found Backlund open at the near post and gave him a perfect pass from the corner. Backlund tipped his 17th goal between Smith's pads at 15:37 and the Flamers pulled even. It was the ninth goal allowed by Phoenix's penalty killers in their past 31 opportunities (71 percent) and the third time in the past eight games the Coyotes squandered a 2-0 lead.
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