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. Celtics Jerseys 2020 . Last year, Matt Kuchar closed with a 4-under 68 to beat Kevin Chappell by two strokes for his second win of the 2013 season and sixth of his career. Custom Boston Celtics Jerseys . The club announced Friday that Mauro Biello will be kept on as an assistant to coach Jesse Marsch when the Impact join the MLS in 2012. https://www.cheapceltics.com/ . Right-hander Ricky Nolasco and the Twins agreed to terms on a free-agent contract Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press. Boston Celtics Shirts . Dragic was a game-time decision because of a sore right ankle that had kept him out of Wednesdays loss at Utah, but played all but the last 10 seconds of the second half in the first 40-point game for a Phoenix player since Amare Stoudemires 44 on March 19, 2010. Boston Celtics Pro Shop . The 22-year-old slugger, who is no stranger to adversity, made up for it at the end.ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Higher-seeded teams with the lead in a best-of-seven series over the history of the NHL playoffs have had plenty of trouble putting the opponent away. Sometimes the brink of elimination has been what truly gets a team going. Consider the Chicago Blackhawks, though, when their foe is down. An ability to swoop down and delivering the finishing victory has become a clear trait of this team since coach Joel Quenneville took over and stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews arrived. "The bigger the setting, the bigger the stage, they seem to rise to that challenge," Quenneville said. Since 2009, the first post-season appearance for Kane and Toews, the Blackhawks have not lost in any of the seven playoff series theyve been in that were tied after four games. Thats a 13-0 record in Games 5 and 6 of such matchups that were even at two each, including the Stanley Cup finals in 2010 against Philadelphia and 2013 against Boston. Theyll test that perfect mark once more on Tuesday in Game 6 against the Minnesota Wild, who fell behind 3-2 in this Western Conference semifinal series after losing 2-1 in Chicago on Sunday. "To do exactly whatever it takes ... is one of the hardest things in any series, to clinch it," said Blackhawks left wing Bryan Bickell, whos tied for the NHL lead with six goals this year in the playoffs. "But I feel we have the confidence and the poise and the relaxation that we dont get ahead of ourselves and just play shift by shift." During the Kane-Toews era -- which includes left wing Patrick Sharp and core defencemen Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Niklas Hjalmarsson -- the Blackhawks are 11-2 in games played with a chance to win a series. Theyre 5-1 on the road, with the only losses in those clinching situations against Vancouver, in 2011 in Game 7 of the first round and in 2010 in Game 5 of the second round. They rebounded in 2010 to win Game 6 and advance. The Wild are bound to be one of the toughest outs these Blackhawks have encountered. Theyre 5-0 at Xcel Energy Center since the playoffs began, ouutscoring their opponents 16-5 and allowing an average of 19.dddddddddddd2 shots on goal per game. The Blackhawks were stifled in Games 3 and 4, unable to amount any kind of offensive rhythm. "The building has been electric. The fans have been unbelievable. Im sure theyre having a good time with the late starts," Wild defenceman Ryan Suter said, smiling. "Everything, its been a lot of fun for us. Were driving to the rink and you see the excitement outside the rink, and we just build off that." The Wild won two elimination games in the last round against Colorado and, to factor in franchise history, are 9-5 all time in those situations. Theyre trying to become the first NHL team to force consecutive Game 7s in the same post-season without holding a series lead since the New York Islanders in 1987. "Just get ready for Game 6 here. Thats our Game 7 right now," captain Mikko Koivu said. Quenneville declared injured centre Andrew Shaw out again for Game 6. Wild coach Mike Yeo said left wing Matt Moulson and defenceman Keith Ballard were skating on Monday but declined to speculate on their status. Suter took a hard spill in Game 3 in a tangle with Blackhawks right wing Marian Hossa, leaving the game briefly with an apparent injury to his right arm, but he and Yeo have said repeatedly hes fine. Really, at this point in the playoffs, any pain is mostly an afterthought. So, too, is the elimination scenario for the Wild. "I think we like the challenge. We always seem to make things harder than it needs to be. I dont know if thats a good thing to do, but it seems throughout the year thats kind of been the way weve gone about it," Suter said. So the teams will take the ice on Tuesday, with the pressure on each side higher than its been all season. "I think we know what theyre doing. I think they know pretty much what were doing, too," Blackhawks defenceman Johnny Oduya said. "From this point I think its just a matter of will and who wants to win the most and whos fresher and who plays better." ' ' '