Despite a poor start to their game, the Calgary Flames were able to muster up a solid 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes last night in front of a home crowd.

Expanding their wins to two straight games, the first time since well over a month, Karri Ramo and the Flames were able to secure an additional two points which has now provided them with 10 points in their last ten games played – not too shabby.

With the return of captain Mark Giordano, the Flames received a much needed presence on their backend as the veteran defenseman has missed 18 games this year. Playing a struggling Coyotes team of late(identical records in last 10 games), Calgary was really hoping for a winning streak to start up as they’ve experienced their fair share of losing streaks so far this year. With his return, the Flames came back after a lackadaisical first period by putting away two goals and taking a 3-1 lead.

" We came in here, we know we didn't have our best first, they sort of took it to us for the first half. But those late goals, they usually are momentum swings and we did a great job of carrying it over into the second," Giordano said.

As mentioned, the Flames were outplayed in the first period and did not appear to be in the game. After a few words from their coach and a couple minutes to reflect on their play in the dressing room, the group came out during the second period with much more intensity and better effort which resulted in securing a two goal leads going into the third.

Leading the NHL in shorthanded goals, the Calgary Flames added another from Lee Stempniak, assisted by Matt Stajan, to put away the game at 4-1 in the third period. Four different players would end the night with two points, including Giordano and Hudler who extends his points total to 25 in 27 games played.

Playing in his second game in a row, netminder Karri Ramo had a very good night stopping 29 of 30 shots he faced, after stoping 21 of 22 shots against the LA Kings. As I mentioned earlier, both goalies appear to be getting a chance to play a string of games and prove their worth to the organization, and two back to back wins allowing a total of two goals, isn’t a bad way to start!

" It was a while that I didn't see a game, but you just have to take it game by game and don't think about the situation too much and what's going to happen," Ramo said. " You just have to play the game and enjoy it."

There are some positives to take back from the last couple of games as the Flames appear to be returning to their hard working ways which was evident early on this year.

With the return of their captain who logged 20 minutes, blocked three shots, and registered two points, the Flames have a little jump in their step at the moment and will hope to extend that to three straight games against the Colorado Avalanche.

Thanks for reading!

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