5 Things - Flames @ Coyotes

1. Animal Instincts

Look out, world.

The ‘Texas Tiger’ is on the prowl.

The team’s leading scorer – otherwise known as Blake Coleman – was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week Monday, with four goals and seven points to lead the way in three Flames victories, capped with a 3-1 triumph over the defending Cup champs over the weekend.

“He's been excellent," Head Coach Ryan Huska said of the winger. "We've talked about him a fair bit this year. I think the break, for him, over the course of the summer was a really good thing. It allowed his body to heal up a little bit more and he was able to spend a little more time in the gym and getting himself ready to go. When he came back, he wasn't feeling great yet, but he stuck with it and when you go back to some conversations that we had over the summer, he feels – and he felt - that there was more offensively from him that he could bring to the table. It hasn't really been there like he wanted it to be there for a couple years, so he's found some chemistry with the guys he's played with.

"He's going to the net hard. And when you look at all his goals, they're right around the net-front.

“That's Blake Coleman.

While the goals are coming in bunches – 19 of them, to be exact, surpassing last year’s 82-game total with another half-calendar to play – the fact that he has more than ‘conventional’ snipers such as Mitch Marner, Steven Stamkos and even Connor McDavid, matters little to him, personally.

Sure, the accolades are a nice feather in his helmet – especially “when you're not accustomed to get or hearing about it from people very often,” he concedes.

But most importantly:

“You don't want to lose sight of what makes you the player you are.”

Coleman’s impressive output goes beyond 5-on-5 and the powerplay, where he’s been a recent addition to a resurgent squad that’s looked dangerous and has two goals on five opportunities in the past two nights.

He’s an accomplished penalty killer, too, and is currently second in shorthanded goals with four, behind Simon Holmstrom of the New York Islanders and Travis Konecny of the Philadelphia Flyers (5).

“Confidence in general is a big thing in this league and that's why there's a lot of guys that go on streaks,” Coleman said. “They score a lot and things feel good and that's why guys have career years and things like that. The more confidence you have in your all-around game, the more likely you are to keep things like this going. And it certainly helps that our team's playing well. Everybody's playing well. It's not just me going. We have a lot of guys that are producing and playing good hockey right now, and that's what we said all year would be our recipe to win.

“That's why we have been winning.”

2. Three Straight

Coleman is bang on.

While Monday’s announcement celebrated one of most productive, personal stretches of his career, none of it would be possible without everyone pulling on the rope.

As a team, the Flames are absolutely rolling right now.

Coleman, Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund supplied the offence, while Jacob Markstrom continued a stretch of dominance with 31 stops, as the Flames knocked off the Golden Knights 3-1 Saturday to extend their winning streak to three.

The Flames – who are now two games above the .500 mark – beat the Ottawa Senators 6-3 on Jan. 9, before opening the Fathers Trip with a 6-2 victory over these very same Arizona Coyotes last Thursday.

“If you look at the Vegas game, that's one where we relied on Jacob – we felt – too much,” Huska said. “But there were a lot of things that we did well. Guys will point to the Chicago game, for sure, but how they’ve rebounded after that is more, for me, a telling story as to how the guys have approached their business over the last three, in particular.

"The last few games, I feel like the guys have prepared themselves the same way, but what we’ve done is – besides scoring first – is we’ve pushed for the next one, too. So, that’s something where we’re able to keep momentum on our side, the last two games in particular, so that’s a positive thing, for sure."

The Flames went on quite the tour of North America over the past two weeks, playing six of seven away from the Scotiabank Saddledome and traversing nearly 10,000 km in the process.

In that span, they assembled an impressive 5-2-0 record while outscoring their opponents 29-17.

Now – having played more road games than any other team in the NHL with 25 – they return home to begin a stretch of six straight in the friendly confines.

"The urgency’s been great,” Coleman said of the response after a 2-7-1 start to the year. “We never panicked in this room.

“It’s just, at some point, you’ve got to go on a run.

“We’ve set ourselves up with a really great opportunity to do that with six home games in a row going into a break. It falls on us, we’ve got to take advantage of this.

“Don’t let that road trip go to waste."

3. Quotable

Captain Mikael Backlund on the success of his linemate Coleman:

“He's been playing really well. He's never had this pace his whole career before, so I can't say I saw it coming. I don't think anyone could say that. You look at his stats over his career and he’s soon going to be at his personal best here. He’s been playing really well for us and he deserves it. He's worked really hard to get where he is and I'm very happy for him.

"He has that experience of playing some long playoff runs, which is very important to have on the team. Some guys win the Cup - and for him, to win it twice - and to still feel the drive that he has to want to win it again, and do whatever he can on and off the ice to get back there."

Huska on Coleman’s value to the team this year:

“He's won two Stanley Cups and he was a big reason why. He knows where to go and he comes to play in the big moments, and that's important for the younger guys to see that, for sure.

Huska on Coleman’s Cup-winning experience rubbing off on his teammates:

“He's another guy that doesn't have a bad day. It's pretty neat to watch him the way he goes about his business. He comes in and he's the same. He doesn't ride the waves of ups and downs like some guys do. Whether they don't really understand yet how to do that or it just came naturally to Blake, he doesn't ride the wave. So, if there's a tough night, he moves on pretty quick. If there's a great night, he moves on pretty quick.

“And I think that's what's allowed him to have a lot of success so far this year.”

4. Know Your Enemy

The Coyotes rebounded after last week’s loss to the Flames with a 6-0 drubbing of the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesota-born Nick Bjugstad recorded his second-career hat-trick, while Connor Ingram made 38 saves to earn his league-leading fifth shutout of the season.

Clayton Keller had two goals and an assist, Jason Zucker and Jack McBain each had a pair of helpers, and Alex Kerfoot added a single to round out the offence.

In all, 10 different players tallied a point for the Coyotes, who improved to 21-18-2 with their eighth road victory, surpassing last year’s win total away from Mullett Arena.

“I think the boys had the right mindset,” Arizona Head Coach Andre Tourigny told reporters after the game. “That was a really good start. After the first period, I think we played the right way. We had urgency defensively. We're stingy defensively. I think we played a solid three periods.

“The other side, they showed pride, they're a proud program, and they pushed back. ’Ingy’ came up big and made key saves at key moments."

This is the second of a three-game road trip for the Desert Dogs, who will visit the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday before heading home for a pair.

5. Players To Watch

Flames - Connor Zary

Zary singlehandedly engineered the Kadri goal in Vegas, holding on a 2-on-1 before trying to get a shot off, but gathering the puck up again, showing great patience, and then trying a bank-shot from behind the goal line.

The kid’s got skill.

Coyotes - Clayton Keller

Keller is coming off that exceptional three-game against the Wild, and now has seven points (4G, 3A) in his last three outings.

The 25-year-old leads the Coyotes with 38 points (17G, 21A) in 41 games this year.