Doan's big night helps Coyotes top Flames

GLENDALE, Ariz.-- Before a game the slumping Arizona Coyotes had to have, coach Dave Tippett called on his best players to step up and lead the way. The captain and face of the franchise answered the bell, scoring a pair of personal milestone goals and delivering the win his team needed.
Shane Doan had two goals and an assist to become the all-time points leader in franchise history, and Coyotes ended a five-game losing streak with a 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Gila River Arena on Friday.

Doan tied Dale Hawerchuk's franchise record of 929 points with a first-period goal and assisted on defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson's goal at 6:51 of the second period for point No. 930 and the record.
Doan also scored during a 4-on-3 advantage in the third period. It was the 123rd power-play goal of his career, moving him past Hawerchuk for another franchise mark and completing a hat trick of records for Doan. He broke Hawerchuk's franchise record for goals on Dec. 31 against the Winnipeg Jets.

The two goals Friday gave him 389 for his career.
"This was a big game, so to [get the records] and win a game like this is special," said Doan, who has 21 goals in 45 games at age 39. "Tip kind of gave it to us as leaders and said we had to be good. We had to find a way to win this one. Our young guys have been great for us all year and the leaders have to step up, especially this time of year."
The native of Halkirk, Alberta, is proud of what he's accomplished, but glad to be able to turn his attention to helping the Coyotes chase a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"The whole record countdown thing has gotten a little tedious," Doan said. "I'm glad to have them, but I'm glad to have it behind me too.
"The records are great and I'm honored, but this year has been a lot of fun. We're finding ways to win games. We're in February and no one predicted we'd be in the middle of [a playoff race]. We're not where we want to be but we're not too far away from it. We just have to find ways to keep winning."

The Coyotes (25-23-6) moved within four points of the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific Division.
Ekman-Larsson and Anthony Duclair scored power-play goals 1:57 apart in the second period to give the Coyotes a 3-0 lead. Ekman-Larsson's game-winning goal was his seventh of the season, one behind Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks and Jonathan Toews for the NHL lead.
The Coyotes are 3-0-0 against the Flames this season, and Ekman-Larsson has a goal in each game. Arizona is 10-2-3 in the 15 games Ekman-Larsson has scored.
Rookie Louis Domingue made 26 saves for his 10th win of the season. His bid for a third shutout ended when Joe Colborne stuffed home a puck just off the goal line with 9:27 left to play.
"We couldn't match their energy," said Calgary coach Bob Hartley, whose team won 6-5 in a shootout at the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. "The first goal put us right on our heels and we just couldn't gain their blue line. Their defensemen controlled the entire game. We turned the puck over quite a few times and just lost momentum."

Jonas Hiller made 32 saves for Calgary (25-26-3), which had its three-game winning streak ended. The Flames took 10 penalties and gave up three power-play goals for the second straight night.
"We wanted to have the perfect road trip here," Calgary forward Josh Jooris said. "We pride ourselves on being a disciplined team, and these past couple of games we've gotten away from that. We're better when we're even strength and keeping the flow of the game."
The Coyotes took the lead early to begin the night of milestones from their captain.
Doan took a pass from defenseman Kevin Connauton and curled at the left circle. Using Flames defenseman Kris Russell and teammate Tyler Gaudet as a screen, Doan put the puck between Russell's skates and under Hiller's pads at 3:31 for point No. 929.

It was Doan's 20th goal, the 13th time he has reached the 20-goal mark in his career. Among active players, only Jaromir Jagr of the Florida Panthers (18), Jarome Iginla of the Colorado Avalanche (16) and Marian Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks (14) have more 20-goal seasons than Doan.
"That's special, getting to 20 that many times," Doan said. "I know [former Coyotes teammate] Mike Gartner scored 30 goals [15 times] in his career and thinking how incredible that was. It's a cool thing. I'd like to keep going to 25 or 30. As long as we are winning, whatever the number is will be fine."
The Flames outshot the Coyotes 11-7 in the first period and had several good scoring chances. The best came in the final minutes, when defenseman T.J. Brodie had an open net but put the rebound of a Jooris shot over the crossbar.

The Coyotes took control in a second period that featured six penalties and gave Arizona two power-play chances it didn't waste.
With the teams skating 4-on-3, Michael Stone was able to push a Martin Hanzal faceoff win out to Ekman-Larsson for a shot from the high slot that Hiller touched but couldn't stop at 6:51. It was the 16th goal for Ekman-Larsson, two behind Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks for the most among NHL defensemen.
At 8:44, Duclair chased down his own rebound after Brodie popped it into the air and swatted a one-timer off the ice and past Hiller to give Arizona its first three-goal lead since shutting out Nashville here on Jan. 9.