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Iginla'a 500th the difference as Flames beat Wild

Jan 8, 2012 - 7:06 AM Calgary, AB (Sports Network) - Jarome Iginla scored the 500th goal of his career to lift the Calgary Flames to a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Iginla became the 42nd player in NHL history to achieve the feat and his goal was also the game-winner as the Flames snapped a five-game slide. Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves in the win.

"That accomplishment is an individual accomplishment, but it's also about him having strong teammates and playing for a first class organization - a lot of things are involved in it," Flames coach Brent Sutter said. "To see a guy score his 500th goal and to see a guy score his first goal, [this game's] got a neat story to it."

Dany Heatley scored the lone goal for the Wild, who have dropped three straight and 11 of 12. Niklas Backstrom gave up all three goals on 36 shots in the loss.

"The first couple of periods - execution-wise - we could have been better, there were a couple 4-on-2s that we had and 3-on-2s that we had that didn't develop into anything," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "A lot of times when you're struggling, you end up on your heels a lot and I find that that's the case for us a lot of the time, we're just not that aggressive. I don't know if it's fear or a lack of confidence or whatever it is, but we don't attack the same way."

The first two periods of the game passed without a goal, but that changed just 2:02 into the third when the Flames took a 1-0 lead.

Lee Stempniak took a feed from Mikaeul Backlund down the right wing and blasted a shot on net that Backstrom stopped, but the rebound went out front and Lance Bouma was there for his first career NHL goal.

Iginla's goal, which was his 16th of the season, came at the 8:33 mark of the third period and proved to be the game-winner.

He took a feed in the neutral zone and skated down the right wing. From the boards, he threw the puck on net where it went off the skates of two players, a Flame and a Wild, and got past Backstrom.

Glencross scored with 8:45 to play on the power play for a 3-0 lead while Heatley got his squad on the board with 6:19 left to cap the scoring in the game.

Game Notes

Calgary hosts New Jersey on Tuesday...Minnesota hosts San Jose on Tuesday...Calgary has won three of four from Minnesota this season...Calgary was 1-for-3 on the power play while Minnesota was 0-for-3.