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CALGARY -- Weeks of frustration on home ice finally came to a merciful end Wednesday night for the Calgary Flames. Sean Monahan continued his impressive rookie season, scoring his team-leading 14th goal as Calgary snapped its record seven-game losing streak at the Scotiabank Saddledome with a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. "We have great fans so we want to play hard for them and win games for them," said Monahan. "Together as a group, we know we can be better than we were and thats what were working towards." Monahan opened the scoring at 11:44 of the first period. It was the first time in nine home games Calgary had struck first. In fact, the Flames hadnt held the lead in a home game since Dec. 12, the day general manager Jay Feaster was fired. "It was nice to get one early and we started to build off that," said Monahan, 19, who moved ahead of Mike Cammalleri and Jiri Hudler for the team lead in goals. "It was a big moment in the game for us and that helped us carry momentum throughout the game." The goal was set up by TJ Galiardis hustle. After winning a race to the puck deep in the Coyotes zone, Galiardi promptly zipped the puck in front where Monahan tapped it in behind goaltender Mike Smith, firing up the sell-out crowd of 19,289. "A pretty incredible play. He showed his speed to get to the puck and win that race. It was an unbelievable pass to get it over and lucky enough, I finished it," said Monahan, who is third in rookie goals behind Colorados Nathan MacKinnon (17) and San Joses Tomas Hertl (15). Calgary never relinquished that lead thanks partly to Karri Ramo, who finished the night with 30 saves to improve to 9-10-4. The 27-year-old Finn was especially sharp in the opening 20 minutes when Phoenix outshot the Flames 11-6 but trailed 1-0. He was counted on again in the third and in the final minute in particular when the Coyotes pulled Smith for an extra attacker and poured on the pressure. "Weve faced some tough times. But the last few home games, weve been playing really good too, especially against Pittsburgh we played really good and we havent got the reward," Ramo said. "We deserved to win today." Lance Bouma and Matt Stajan also scored for Calgary (17-27-7), which scored more than two goals for just the second time since Christmas. The Flames had been outscored 22-4 during its seven-game home losing streak. "We can take a lot defensively from this game, especially with their D that are so active," Stajan said. "We have four more games here at home and we want to make sure we keep at it." Kicking off a five-game homestand, Calgary will try to make it two wins in a row Friday night against Nashville. Antoine Vermette and Shane Doan scored for Phoenix (23-18-9), which has dropped eight of its last 11. The Coyotes remain four points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. "Its challenging but the guys that have been around long enough in this league know that youre gong to hit those stretches in a season. Its how you manage to get out of it," says Vermette. Winless in its last five games away from home, Phoenixs three-game road trip to Western Canada continues Friday night in Edmonton. "Sometimes its tempting to get frustrated and fall into that trap. But if you do the right thing over a long period of time, eventually its going to turn your way," Vermette said. The Flames surged in front 2-0 at 8:48 of the second period on a perfectly executed fast break. Curling out from behind his own net, TJ Brodie threaded a long pass to Bouma at the Phoenix blue-line. In behind the Coyotes defence, Bouma darted in and snapped a perfect shot into the top corner. Vermette cut the lead to 2-1 on a short-handed goal less than five minutes later but Stajan restored the two-goal cushion before the period ended . "Weve been down lately in a lot of games and weve got to be better," said Doan, who got Phoenix back within one at 6:50 of the third. "If you look at our record, weve been average if that and weve got a lot better team than an average team." Smith, who had 23 saves, falls to 17-15-8. Notes: Flames LW Mike Cammalleri (concussion) missed his sixth game. Also not dressed for Calgary was LW Paul Byron (foot)... Missing for Phoenix was C Martin Hanzal (lower body), who missed his second game and D David Schlemko (upper body). Both are day-to-day... Calgarys only two regulation wins in the last 21 home games have come against the Coyotes. They also beat Phoenix 4-1 on Dec. 4... After 48 games without one, the Coyotes have short-handed goals in two consecutive games... With Henrik Sedins streak ending, Vermette (361) and D Keith Yandle (353) now have the third and fourth longest active iron-man streaks in the NHL. . -- The Chicago Bears agreed Tuesday to a one-year contract with defensive lineman Israel Idonije and are bringing him back for a second stint. . - Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard has signed with WME-IMG, saying the sports management powerhouse will help maximize the value of my brand. http://www.mavericksteamofficial.info/customized/. The 2010 batting champ showed what he can do when hes mostly healthy. Gonzalez homered, doubled and singled in his return to the lineup, and the Colorado Rockies snapped a five-game losing streak with a 13-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. . After making his All-Star debut in Fridays Rising Stars Challenge, the Raptors sophomore centre wont be sticking around for the duration of the weekends festivities, thinking about the big picture instead. .com) - The Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings are ready to put all the talk and hype surrounding their meeting at Dodger Stadium behind them. CHICAGO -- Roman Josi and Nashvilles dangerous defencemen did it all against the Chicago Blackhawks. That is why Pekka Rinne believes the blue-liners are the biggest key for a strong finish to the Predators disappointing season. Josi had three assists, and Ryan Ellis scored in the third period to lead the Predators to a 3-2 victory over the Blackhawks on Friday night. "If we win or lose, usually its the D-men," said Rinne, who made with 31 saves. "The talent we have on the back end, were pretty fortunate to have that kind of depth in the defence." Shea Weber also had his team-best 27th assist as Nashvilles defencemen combined for five points in the Predators third consecutive win. Weber also leads the team with 43 points, and Josi jumped into a tie with Patric Hornqvist for second on the team with 21 assists. "Thats the strength really of our group, our D-men," coach Barry Trotz said. "Theyre all young and talented. Were the youngest team in the league by three years on the blue line. The future is really bright for us there. Now weve got to work on trying to get those elite forwards like the Blackhawks have." It was the second straight loss for Chicago, which is struggling to keep up with the top contenders in the rugged Western Conference. The reigning Stanley Cup champions dropped to 10-8-7 in 2014. Jonathan Toews and Peter Regin scored for the Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford made 26 saves in his 200th NHL game. "Were putting ourself in tough situations by not starting well and getting away from our team game," Toews said. "Not much of an explanation, but we know we need better right now. We need to get out of this trend were in right now." Mike Fisher and Hornqvist also scored for Nashville, which has won two of three against Chicago this season. Ellis fourth goal of the season came right after the Predators killed a holding penalty on the defenceman that carried over into the third. He jumped out of the box, got a long pass from Josi and beat Crawford on a breakaway to make it 3-1 just 45 seconds into the period. "I was just fortunate enough to time it right," Ellis said. "Josi made a great pplay with a blocked shot then a tape-to-tape pass through the zone.dddddddddddd" Regins tip-in got the Blackhawks within one again at 11:28, but they were unable to tie it. Regins second goal with Chicago came after Toews sent a wide-open opportunity off the left post 4:40 into the third. Toews also had an open tip go wide with 36 seconds left. "We knew they were going to make a push," Josi said. "With that team theyve got a lot of skill, but Peks was great again." Chicago controlled the action at the start, but Nashville began to pressure Crawford midway through the first. Nick Spaling shot wide right on a prime opportunity with about 7 1/2 minutes left. Fisher put the Predators in front when he pushed a rebound over Crawfords left leg for his 17th goal at 15:33. Nashville used a big slap shot by Weber to open a 2-0 lead with 69 seconds left in the first. Crawford stopped the drive by the big defenceman, but Hornqvist swept in the rebound for his 13th. Crawford hopped up and slammed his stick down as the Predators celebrated Hornqvists first goal since March 4. "Tough to watch the last part of the first period," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "I thought that was as bad as weve probably played for any stretch all year." The two-goal deficit seemed to wake up the Blackhawks for a bit. Toews stole the puck from Josi and passed it to Kris Versteeg, who passed it back to the captain for his 26th goal with 14 seconds remaining. Chicago carried the momentum into the second, but Rinne was there each time. He used his left pad to deny Patrick Sharp on a 1-on-1 opportunity, and he got some help from teammates when the Blackhawks had the puck in front during a power play at the end of the period. Crawford also used his glove to grab Craig Smiths shot with 5:46 left in the second. NOTES: Blackhawks F Marian Hossa (upper body) participated in the morning skate and is hoping to return Sunday at home against Detroit or Tuesday at Philadelphia. He has missed five games. ... Predators F Viktor Stalberg received a warm ovation when he was shown on the video board in the first period for helping Chicago win the Stanley Cup last season. ' ' '