CALGARY — Brian Elliott's return to Scotiabank Saddledome went much better than when he last played there during the playoffs.
Elliott made 43 saves as the Philadelphia Flyers snapped a 10-game losing skid with a 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday night.
The goaltender lasted just 5:38 during Game 4 of Calgary's opening round playoff series with Anaheim last spring before being pulled. Anaheim went on to win 3-1 to sweep the series and Elliott departed in the summer as a free agent.
"Whenever you're coming to a city you lived in for a year and played and enjoyed yourself, you really look at it as an opportunity to show your stuff again one last time," said Elliott.
He added: "That's a big streak to end, and in doing it the way we did tonight with punctuation was really good for our group."
A key moment came early in the second when Elliott made a great glove save off Johnny Gaudreau on a breakaway. Elliott then stopped four more shots on the ensuing power play as defenceman Andrew MacDonald was whistled for hooking Gaudreau.
It was right after that penalty kill that Scott Laughton scored the first of three Flyers goals in a 1:11 span to seize control of the game. Jakub Voracek set up Michael Raffl on a two-on-one 25 seconds later and then Philadelphia took advantage of a mistaken call by the officials.
With Michael Frolik sent off for high-sticking, when it was actually a teammate's stick that clipped Sean Couturier in the face, Wayne Simmonds scored 10 seconds into that power play to make it 4-1.
The outburst came in a second period in which the Flames outshot Philadelphia 21-7. Calgary had a 45-21 edge in shots overall.
"He faced a lot of shots, he ate a lot of pucks and didn't let many rebounds. He was outstanding," said Voracek, who had three assists.
Laughton finished the game with two goals and Valtteri Filppula also chipped in for Philadelphia (9-11-7), which plays in Edmonton on Wednesday night. The Flyers have points in six of their last 11 games as five of the losses during their skid came in overtime.
"Guys have worked real hard and more importantly than that, guys have really stuck together through a pretty tough stretch here," said Flyers coach Dave Hakstol.
Troy Brouwer, with his first of the season, and Sean Monahan scored for Calgary (14-12-1). The Flames lost three of four on their homestand and now head out East for games on back-to-back nights in Toronto and Montreal starting on Wednesday.
"Any time you lose there is cause for concern, but there are no big issues," said Brouwer, who scored his first goal in 33 games dating back to last season. "Our effort was there, it was one of those nights that we weren't rewarded."
Travis Hamonic was given a match penalty for a hit to the head and a game misconduct for his open-ice hit in the third period on Dale Weise, who left the game briefly but later returned.
"Those hits happen. It's unfortunate," said the Flames defenceman. "I felt like I stayed in my tracks and I kept my arm down. I was going for his chest and he kind of moves, not jumps but moves out of the way, maybe to try and protect himself or whatever it is and you kind of hit each other, but no malicious attempt."
Notes: Flames captain Mark Giordano played in career game No. 700... Calgary made one lineup change inserting Curtis Lazar at centre and scratching veteran Matt Stajan... Philadelphia also made one change with Taylor Leier drawing in for Jori Lehtera... Philadelphia won for just the second time (2-8-4) when giving up the first goal.
Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press