Mike Smith tallies franchise record-tying shutout in Coyotes’ win over Flames

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Mike Smith stopped 36 shots for his 32nd career shutout, Christian Dvorak had two goals and an assist, and the surging Arizona Coyotes beat the Calgary Flames 5-0 Monday night.

Smith’s 21st shutout as a member of the Coyotes ties him with Nikolai Khabibulin and Ilya Bryzgalov for the most in franchise history.

Martin Hanzal, Ryan White and Justin Martinook also scored for the Coyotes, who have points in four straight (3-0-1) and are 6-2-1 in their last nine.

Chad Johnson had 19 saves through two periods and was replaced by Brian Elliott to start the third with the Flames trailing 4-0. Elliott stopped eight of the nine shots he faced.

Dvorak got his third multi-point game in the last five to give the rookie five goals and seven points over that span. He had just 13 points in the first 45 games.

Calgary was playing for the first time since a 3-2 win at Pittsburgh last Tuesday night. The Flames had won four of five going into their break.

Starting his ninth consecutive game, Smith was busiest in the first period when the Coyotes were outshot 19-9 yet emerged with a 1-0 lead on a Hanzal’s goal. Three more scores in the second blew the game open.

Outplayed most of the first period, the Coyotes were much better to start the second, quickly increasing their lead to 3-0 on goals 86 seconds apart.

Dvorak’s eighth at 2:39 came when he took a pass from Brendan Perlini and whipped a shot over Johnson’s glove.

That was followed by a great effort from Martinook, who corralled a dump-in off the corner boards and after muscling his way past defenseman Dennis Wideman, zipped a shot under the cross bar.

Dvorak then showcased his passing ability on an odd-man rush. Carrying the puck down the wing, he found Luke Schenn in the high slot coming late and as the defenseman cut to the net, he had it glance in off White’s skate with 8:52 left in the middle period.

Flames coach Glen Gulutzan replaced Johnson with Elliott to start the third but that didn’t stop the Coyotes with Dvorak adding his second at 2:12. Bursting up the ice with the puck, he fed Shane Doan then raced to the net where he got it back and, after having his first shot stopped, knocked in his own rebound.

NOTES: Calgary remained one point behind Los Angeles for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Flames and Kings play four times over the final 19 games.

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Coyotes: At Edmonton on Tuesday night in the middle game of a three-game trip.