Byron nets 2, Flames beat Coyotes 5-3

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) Paul Byron finally scored a goal for the first time since opening night, and then he added another.

Byron scored twice to break out of a 16-game scoring funk, and the Calgary Flames beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Thursday night.

Playing in career game No. 99, Byron had his first two-goal game in the NHL.

''It felt good. It was a lot of work coming, a lot of time shooting pucks in practice with the coaching staff and stuff like that,'' Byron said. ''The chances have been coming and I've been extremely happy with that. It was just a matter of time, I thought, before they started going in.''

Since beating Ryan Miller for Calgary's first goal of the season back on Oct. 8, Byron has had at least a half-dozen breakaways that he has failed to convert.

''We just don't want him to get any more breakaways,'' teammate Mark Giordano said with a chuckle. ''He gets breakaways, he doesn't bury them. But 2-on-1s, 3-on-2s, he's money. We'll just let him pull up or something next time he gets a break.''

David Jones, Giordano and Sean Monahan also scored for Calgary (10-6-2), while Sven Baertschi added two assists, his first points of the season. The Flames, who have won five of their last seven, began a five-game homestand that will continue Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators.

Shane Doan, Antoine Vermette and Joe Vitale scored for Arizona (6-9-1), which has lost three straight. The Coyotes will continue their three-game road swing through western Canada with a game Friday night in Vancouver.

''Way too many opportunities for them and gave up too many chances and we have to be better,'' Doan said. ''We had opportunities to win the game but we made dumb mental mistakes.''

Byron gave the Flames a 1-0 lead 11:06 into the first period, then scored early in the second to stake Calgary to a 2-1 lead.

''It certainly changes your confidence going forward in the game,'' he said. ''It gets a little mojo in your game and it feels like the rest of the game, pucks seem to follow your stick a little bit. Hopefully, I can keep that going.''

Trailing 3-1, Arizona stormed back to tie it on goals by Vermette and Vitale, whose wrist shot from the corner slid inside the goalpost on Jonas Hiller.

The Flames took the lead for a third time at 16:23 of the second period on Giordano's sixth goal. The Calgary captain was set up neatly by TJ Brodie, who faked a shot at the point, moved in and, after freezing goaltender Mike Smith, slid the puck down low to Giordano, who one-timed it just under the crossbar to make it 4-3.

Nursing that one-goal lead, Calgary got some insurance at 12:23 of the third when Jones shot the puck toward the front of the net and it banked in off of the leg of Connor Murphy. It was the third goal of the season and third in as many games for Jones.

Starting for the seventh time in eight games, Hiller finished with 20 saves to improve to 8-4-1.

Smith, who has gotten off to a shaky start this season, had 20 saves and saw his record fall to 4-9-0.

Notes: Calgary improves to 5-0-1 in games after a regulation loss. ... Not dressed for Arizona was C Brandon McMillan, who sat out his first game of the year, D Chris Summers and D Brandon Gormley. ... Healthy scratches for Calgary were LW Brandon Bollig and RW Devin Setoguchi. Including last year's playoffs with Chicago, Bollig hasn't scored in his last 50 games and Setoguchi has no points in 10 games this season. Both players were acquired during the summer. ... The Flames improve to 7-1-2 when scoring first. ... It was the first of five meetings between the teams this season.