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Friesen, Phaneuf help Flames defeat Oilers

Jan 14, 2007 - 7:39 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Hours after being named to his first All-Star Game, defenseman Dion Phaneuf proved he was deserving.

Phaneuf snapped a tie midway through the third period and former 30-goal scorer Jeff Friesen tallied for the first time this season as the Flames posted a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the fifth installment of the "Battle of Alberta" this campaign.

Matthew Lombardi netted an insurance goal with five minutes remaining and Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 22 shots for Calgary, which has won five in a row and seven of its last eight games.

With the Flames trailing, 1-0, Friesen forged a tie with his first tally since March 12. He gained control of the puck after teammate Byron Ritchie won a battle with a defender behind Edmonton's net and skated to the side of Dwayne Roloson before beating the goaltender high to the glove side at 8:37 of the second period.

"You get your goals any way you can," Friesen said. "It feels good when a play develops like that. You realize how good it feels when you score."

"It's nice to see Friesen score," Kiprusoff said. "He's working so hard. He's had a lot of points in this league for many years."

A 12-year veteran, Friesen has eclipsed the 20-goal mark six times, including a career-high 31 with San Jose in 1997-98.

"This game, it's funny," Friesen said. "You're going to go through slumps and rolls and you're not playing a ton of minutes.

"Sometimes, you can really get in slumps. You just gain a lot of respect for guys that play less minutes and going through what I didn't have to go through in the first 10 years of my career."

Phaneuf put Calgary ahead for good with 8:31 left in the final session. Kristian Huselius received a pass from defenseman Andrew Ference and skated around a prone defender before feeding Phaneuf, who fired a one-timer between the legs of Roloson for his 10th goal of the season.

"Kristian made a great play to freeze everybody," Phaneuf said. "He's one of the most skilled guys in the league when he's got the puck. You can expect to get it if he's got a hole. He got it through to me and I just got it off as quick as I could."

Kiprusoff, who also chosen to participate in the All-Star Game, was perfect in the third period, stopping all eight shots he faced.

The run by Calgary has been even more impressive without the services of captain Jarome Iginla who is out due to a sprained knee ligament. The Flames have outscored their opponents 34-19 in the last eight games.

"The win streak is good for this team because we are able to win without Jarome," Kiprusoff said. "When he comes back, some guys are going to be more confident. They can score, so it won't just be Jarome when he returns."

Shawn Horcoff scored a power-play goal and Roloson made 18 saves for Edmonton, which fell to 0-6-1 in its last seven games against Northwest Division opponents.

"It's a really big loss for us," Roloson said. "We needed to win that game just to stay with the pack. We played a great game. We weren't able to capitalize on our opportunities and they capitalized on every opportunity that they had."