CALGARY, Alberta (AP) Flames defenseman Mark Giordano scored two goals less than 10 minutes apart in the second period to lead Calgary over the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 on Friday night.
Mikael Backlund also scored for the Flames, and Matthew Tkachuk had an empty-net goal that sent Calgary (18-16-2) into the Christmas break 8-3-0 in its last 11 games. Backlund added two assists, as did Dougie Hamilton and Michael Frolik.
Nikita Tryamkin scored his first of the season for the Canucks (14-18-3), who limped into the holidays 2-5-1 in their last eight games.
Down 1-0 after the first period despite carrying the play by a wide margin, the Flames kept coming and Giordano tied it 2:34 into the second period on a power play.
The trailer on an odd-man rush, Backlund found Giordano open in the slot and he wristed a shot into the top corner past Jacob Markstrom.
Giordano put the Flames ahead for good at 11:15 when he went to the net and had Frolik's rebound go in off him.
Both goals came during a stretch of more than 16 minutes when the Canucks went without a shot on goal. The Flames outshot Vancouver 37-14 for the game.
Vancouver was thoroughly dominated in the first period, getting outshot 16-5, yet scored the only goal at 11:35 when Tryamkin's shot hit the skate of Flames forward Kris Versteeg and fluttered high in the air, dropping behind Brian Elliott - who had no idea where it was - and bouncing into the net.
The power-play goal by Giordano, the first of three second-period goals for the Flames, was the 14th on the man advantage in December after the team scored only eight in the season's first two months.
Ranked 30th at the end of November, the power play was up to 14th entering Friday's game thanks to a month when Calgary has gone 14 for 38.
The Flames increased their lead to 3-1 at 18:07 when Backlund knocked in a rebound of Hamilton's shot.
Elliott, tested only 14 times, won his second straight after going more than seven weeks without a victory.
While not busy the entire night, he did make a couple of dandy saves. His best was a blocker save against Brandon Sutter on a 2-on-none.
Elliott improved to 5-9-1. Markstrom, who made 33 saves, fell to 7-8-2.
NOTES: Calgary RW Troy Brouwer left the game after being hit in what appeared to be the hand on a dump-in by Versteeg late in the first period. Brouwer did not return. ... Four of Calgary's 2011 draft picks played in the game: Vancouver's Sven Baertschi and Markus Granlund, and the Flames' Tyler Wotherspoon and Johnny Gaudreau. ... Wotherspoon made his season debut after being recalled from the AHL two weeks ago. ... Both of Tryamkin's goals in the NHL have come at the Saddledome.
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