TAKEAWAYS

1) Ladies and gentlemen, your 2nd place in the Pacific Division Vancouver Canucks. It's amazing what a five-game win streak can do in a division that is crammed with middle of the road teams. The Canucks are clearly the hottest team in the division adding a very thorough 5-2 win in Calgary to their collection of recent wins over Los Angeles, Edmonton, Pittsburgh and Vegas. It's the first time in Travis Green's tenure as head coach he's had a team roll to five straight victories. The last time the hockey club won five in a row it pushed the streak to six in late December 2016 and early January 2017 in Willie Desjardins' final season behind the bench. The Canucks streak comes at a time when Arizona has lost three in a row and four of five, Edmonton has dropped back to back games and four of five as well, Vegas has two wins in its last five (2-2-1) and after Sunday night, Calgary has two wins in its last seven. That's an amazing formula that will allow any team to succeed: get hot while those around you flounder and that's why the Canucks find themselves just two back of the Golden Knights -- with two games in hand.

2) The Canucks jumped all over the Flames on Sunday jumping out to a 3-0 lead by the 10:52 mark of the first period. They chased Flames starter David Rittich in the process. Tyler Myers opened the scoring with a pair of goals three minutes apart and then Jake Virtanen extended the lead. Two of the three goals came on the power play which has now struck a remarkable 39 times in the team's first 40 games. If there is one key to the club's success on this five game win streak it has been its starts. The Canucks have opened the scoring in six straight games -- and in the five consecutive victories have built 2-0 leads on Vegas, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and, in Calgary, pushed that to 3-0. Over the last five games, the Canucks have outscored their opponents 11-2 in the opening 20 minutes of hockey games. It wasn't that long ago, this team was constantly falling behind and even went an entire week without ever playing with the lead. That has changed and so have the hockey club's fortunes. The Canucks are getting timely saves early and then seizing their opportunities to get in front of opponents. The only time the Canucks have trailed during the five straight wins was at 2-1 against Edmonton in the final game before the holiday break.

3) The offensive contributions from Tyler Myers were certainly welcome. He entered the night with one goal in his first season as a Canuck and left the Saddledome with three through his first 40 games. More than the big blueliner finding the back of the net though was the secondary scoring as a whole. Two goals from Myers, two more from Tanner Pearson who now has 11 on the season and 20 in 59 games as a Canuck. Add in another solid night of production for Jake Virtanen who scored for the second night in a row and also added an assist giving him 5+3=8 in his last eight games and 6+8=14 in his last 15. Shotgun Jake is a combination of confidence, productivity and consistency right now unlike at any other point in his NHL career. Elias Pettersson has been on a tear for the Canucks -- and he had his chances again on Sunday -- but there will be nights when the Canucks best player or players are held at bay. That's when secondary scoring becomes so important and the Canucks were able to score five times (including an empty netter) with just a single point from members of the Lotto Line. The Canucks now have six forwards (Pettersson, Miller, Boeser, Horvat Virtanen and Pearson) in double-digits in goals at the 40 game mark.

4) A huge part of the story Sunday was the structure with which the Canucks played particularly in the third period when the game was still on the line at 3-1. Even with an early power play, Calgary mustered just four shots on goal in the first 14 minutes of the final period and overall managed just seven in the third and 25 on the night. Overall, the Canucks held the Flames to 19 even strength shots and allowed just five in eight minutes of Flames power play time. Sean Monahan was dangerous and had five of Calgary's 25 shots himself. But leading scorer Matthew Tkachuk was limited to two on the night, Johnny Hockey had just one and Elias Lindholm, the Flames leading goal-scorer, did not register a single shot on goal. The Canucks looked confident and comfortable playing on the road in the back half of back to backs after giving up 51 shots and 94 attempts just 24 hours earlier against LA. The Canucks protected the puck well in the third period, were disciplined and played the kind of team game they'll need more of if they want to maintain their position above the playoff bar in the Pacific Division. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Flames had just one high-danger scoring chance in 18 minutes of even-strength play in the final period.

5) Thatcher Demko could not have asked for a better start in his return to the line-up after missing the past three weeks with a concussion. After nine straight Jacob Markstrom starts, the Canucks decided it was Demko Time on Sunday and the team rallied around its rookie netminder. Jumping out to the 3-0 lead certainly made life comfortable for Demko and allowed him to ease his way back into NHL game action. He wasn't called up to make any spectacular saves which speaks to his form on the night and the role of the teammates in front of him. He was simply solid and looked confident throughout the night which is a good sign for both Demko and the hockey club. His best stop of the night came in the middle of the second period when Derek Ryan took a Dillon Dube feed in front of the net on a bang-bang play. But Ryan didn't really have much to shoot at as Demko challenged him and took away the net. Although interrupted by injury, Demko extended his own personal win streak to three adding the victory in Calgary to wins over Ottawa and Buffalo earlier in the month. Sunday was a solid showing allowing Demko to find his game again and making him an option to spell off Markstrom who has been both busy and exceptional over the past three weeks. The Canucks will need two strong goaltenders moving forward and the Demko that performed well Sunday at the Saddledome was certainly a welcome sight.