CALGARY, Alberta -- Mark Giordano has gone through games this season where he hasn't had many scoring chances at all.

Friday wasn't one of those nights as the veteran defenseman scored twice to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

"Tonight, it felt like it was sort of following me around there," said the Calgary captain, who nearly added a third goal during a power play early in the third period. "It wasn't for lack of chances. I had some good looks there -- a couple in the third."

The Flames trailed 1-0 after the first period before reeling off three goals in the second and adding an empty-netter by rookie left winger Matthew Tkachuk with 45.2 seconds left in the game.

"Tonight, I thought we were solid throughout 60 minutes," said Giordano, who ended a five-game goal-scoring drought. "We had a ton of scoring chances. Our special teams were good. You play like that and you're going to come out on the right end a lot of nights."

Mikael Backlund had a goal and two assists for the Flames (18-16-2), who bounced back from a 4-1 road loss to the San Jose Sharks three nights earlier.

"I thought we came out hard," said Backlund. "We really wanted to win this game. We showed it right away. We pressured them right away."

Michael Frolik and Dougie Hamilton chipped in with two assists each, while goaltender Brian Elliott made 13 saves to post his second straight win.

Although Elliott didn't face many shots in the game, he made a nice blocker save to deny a scoring attempt by Vancouver center Brandon Sutter midway through the third period.

"It's tough for a goalie when they don't get a lot of action," said Giordano. "They had some good chances there late and he was really, really sharp I thought."

Russian defenseman Nikita Tryamkin scored the lone goal for the Canucks (14-18-3), who also lost 4-1 to the Winnipeg Jets one night earlier at home in Vancouver.

Tryamkin has scored both of his NHL goals at the Saddledome in losses. His other goal came April 7 during a 7-3 setback to the Flames.

Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom did his best to keep his team in the game as he stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced.

"It wasn't a good game," said Markstrom after the setback. "I didn't think we played like we're capable of. Obviously, it was a back-to-back with travel yesterday, but it's not our first time. Everybody that played here tonight have done it before. That was not how you want to end before you go on the Christmas break, for sure."

Although Calgary outshot Vancouver 16-5 in the first period, the Canucks had the game's first goal at 11:35 when Tryamkin scored a fluky goal.

Tryamkin's point shot deflected off Flames right winger Kris Versteeg and bounced up in the air and over Elliott, who had no idea where the puck went.

Flames right winger Troy Brouwer left the game late in the first period with a hand injury after being hit by Versteeg's dump-in from the neutral zone.

The Flames continued to outplay the Canucks in the second period and were rewarded with Giordano's two goals and another off the stick of Backlund.

Giordano took a pass from Backlund and snapped a shot past Markstrom for a power-play goal at 2:34 before tapping in a rebound for a short-handed goal at 11:15.

Backlund then backhanded a shot off Vancouver defenseman Alex Biega's skate and into the net behind Markstrom at 18:07 to put the Flames up 3-1.

"We weren't making enough plays," said Vancouver captain Henrik Sedin post-game. "The execution was off. Our battle level was not high enough and as a team we didn't play well enough and our line needs to be a lot better."

NOTES: After a 4-1 loss in San Jose to the Sharks on Tuesday, the Flames made several roster moves. D Tyler Wotherspoon and RW Garnet Hathaway were inserted into the lineup in place of D Jyrki Jokipakka and LW Lance Bouma. ... C Freddie Hamilton was Calgary's other healthy scratch. ... Canucks RW Jannik Hansen left during the second period of Vancouver's 4-1 loss on home ice to the Winnipeg Jets with a knee injury. Winnipeg C Mathieu Perreault was assessed a kneeing penalty on the play and after the game Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said, "It was a dirty hit for sure. It's something we can't have in this league." ... RW Anton Rodin made his NHL debut in Hansen's absence. Rodin was recalled from a conditioning stint from the AHL's Utica Comets on Thursday. ... C Brendan Gaunce drew back into Vancouver's lineup after sitting out the past five games. ... Vancouver's healthy scratches were C Jayson Megna and D Andrey Pedan.