Coleman, Markstrom lift Flames past Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- Blake Coleman had a goal and an assist, and Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves for the Calgary Flames in a 3-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund also scored for Calgary (20-18-5), which has won three in a row.

“It wasn’t a picture-perfect game for us by any means,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “This is not an easy place to win games, even with some of the guys they were missing form their lineup. Scoring early helped us. Unfortunately we had to ride 'Marky,’ but fortunately he was awesome tonight.”

Chandler Stephenson scored, and Logan Thompson made 23 saves for Vegas (24-13-5), which has lost three of its past five games and played without center Jack Eichel because of a lower-body injury.

“You don’t want to lose hockey games; it’s frustrating,” Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. “You’re not going to sit there and tell yourself the good reasons why you lost or the things you could have done better. You’ve got to look at those no matter if you win or lose. Taking with that, we did some good things, obviously, but you can’t sit here and pat yourself on the back and tell yourself that you played good enough to win.”

Coleman gave Calgary a 1-0 lead at 11:06 of the first period on a power play, sliding a rebound underneath Thompson’s right pad.

Kadri extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:04. He won a puck battle in the crease and poked it past Thompson.

“What I saw [on the two goals] was guys getting outwilled in front of the net,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “They’re just pucks that got pushed into the middle of net. You’ve got to be positionally sound as a goaltender, and you need to outwill people to win those puck battles if he’s making the first save and still recovering. That was the issue with the first two. They were just heavier in front of our net.”

Backlund made it 3-0 at 17:09 of the second period, dangling the puck to his backhand and putting it into a wide-open net.

“We have guys stepping up playing really good hockey,” Coleman said. “We got everybody going, which is good. That’s the way we’ve got to play. … Everyone’s been in good spirits, and the confidence is growing higher and higher.”

Stephenson scored at 8:54 of the third period with a one-timer from the right circle for the 3-1 final.

“We’re trying to score goals,” Cassidy said. “We just didn’t finish well enough.”

Markstrom made 14 saves in the third.

“That’s the guy [Markstrom] is; he’s ultra-competitive,” Coleman said. “He’s bare-handed trying to make a glove save with five seconds left on the clock. Not what we want to see. We want him to keep his hand and keep playing for us. But it speaks to the kind of guy he is. He’s a big reason why we won the game.”

NOTES: Cassidy said Eichel “will miss some time.” … Coleman has two or more points in three straight games for the first time in his NHL career.  … Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault had seven shots on goal. … Backlund recorded his 100th road goal and surpassed Al MacInnis for sixth in franchise history. He won 11 of 18 face-offs (61.1 percent), and Flames center Elias Lindholm won 13 of 22 (59.1 percent).