Tkachuk helps Flames rally to defeat Coyotes in OT

CALGARY -- Matthew Tkachuk scored twice, including the overtime winner, to help the Calgary Flames rally for a 4-3 victory against the Arizona Coyotes at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.

Tkachuk snapped a shot from the left face-off circle at 4:25 of overtime to complete Calgary's comeback.
"I recognized that they had a couple guys that were tired out there that were out there a full shift before me, and then mine, so I thought why not try to take advantage of it one more time and did one more lap and got the puck and then put it in," Tkachuk said.
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Flames highlights]
Johnny Gaudreau and Mark Giordano scored, and David Rittich made 34 saves for the Flames (9-7-2), who are 4-2-1 in their past seven games.
"We didn't start how we wanted most of the games but we're getting strong finishes," Rittich said. "It's a good thing for us. We have to figure out how we can play 60 minutes from the beginning to the end."
Clayton Keller, Christian Dvorak, and Vinnie Hinostroza scored, and Antti Raanta made 39 saves for the Coyotes (9-5-1), who are 8-2-1 in the past 11 games.
"We're up 3-1 and that's the strongest point of our game, defending, so obviously we don't want to give up two goals in the third, let them tie us up and take us to overtime," Hinostroza said. "Obviously we're disappointed in that, but we still got a point so it's not the end of the world. Definitely need to fix what mistakes we made and move on."

The Flames scored twice late in the third period to tie the score.
Tkachuk deflected Elias Lindholm's shot between Raanta's legs on a power play to cut Arizona's lead to 3-2 at 16:30, and Giordano tied the game 3-3 at 17:19 with Rittich on the bench for the extra attacker.
"It's a tied hockey game," Tkachuk said. "That all happened, the two goals, within a minute, and it's a 3-3 game and then the pressure's on them and we have all the momentum."
Keller one-timed a pass from Nick Schmaltz over Rittich's shoulder to put Arizona up 1-0 at 8:29 of the first period. Schmaltz has an assist in each of the past three games.
Rittich made a pad save on Michael Grabner's shorthanded breakaway with 2:28 remaining in the first.
"It's part of my job," Rittich said. "I'm trying to do my best on the ice."
Dvorak made it 2-0 when he deflected Phil Kessel's shot at 4:09 of the second period.

Gaudreau cut the lead to 2-1 at 17:16 when he redirected Tkachuk's backdoor pass. The goal, on the power play, is Gaudreau's first in 13 games.
Hinostroza scored his first goal of the season to make it 3-1 at 10:31 of the third period.
"I think as soon as I scored that I felt 200 pounds lighter," Hinostroza said. "But giving up the two-goal lead in the third, that's not what we want."

They said it

"We really had no business other than [Rittich] to win that game, in my opinion. It's 3-1. We played better in the third, but in the first we played right into their hands. They're a good hockey team. They're a really good hockey team. They're different Coyotes than I think what people have seen in the past. They're a legit team this year. They're hard to play against. They're frustrating to play against." -- Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk
"Lesson learned. I think we started off pretty good and then backed off a little bit, it felt like, instead of pushing when we had a 3-1 [lead], kept playing the way we were supposed to be, but we backed off and we can't do that." -- Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Need to know

The loss is Arizona's first this season when scoring first. … Kessel has four points (one goal, three assists) in his past four games. … Flames forward Sean Monahan has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past four games. … Lindholm has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in an eight-game point streak. … Flames forward Milan Lucic served his second game of a two-game suspension for roughing Columbus Blue Jackets forward Kole Sherwood on Saturday.

What's next

Coyotes: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; FS-A PLUS, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Flames: Host the New Jersey Devils on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)