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Iginla leads charge as Flames burn Coyotes

Oct 26, 2008 - 7:01 AM GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla made his team's 1,600-mile trip to the desert worthwhile.

Iginla scored a goal and set up two others as the Flames rolled to a 4-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday.

Pacing the Flames with 50 goals and a career-high 98 points last season, Iginla has five tallies in his last three games after being limited to one over the first five. Already the franchise's all-time leading goal-scorer with 380, Iginla has 772 career points, needing 58 more to tie Theoren Fleury for first place in team history.

"We won all three periods and played really solid defensively, so I do agree (that is the best effort all season) because we limited them to very few chances to score," Flames coach Mike Keenan said. "We defended the lead well tonight and did the small things that are necessary to defend a lead, like reduce chances. We were patient and well-positioned as far as details."

Todd Bertuzzi and defenseman Dion Phaneuf each scored a power-play goal and Brandon Prust added the first tally of his career for the Flames, who extended their winning streak to three games.

"All four lines played well," Keenan said. "In the second, we had that consistency. It was a little harder period to play because of the line changes. We had the discipline to make the changes properly."

Miikka Kiprusoff made 23 saves for Calgary, which outshot Phoenix, 19-6, in the second period.

The Flames continued their dominance of the Coyotes, winning for the 15th time in the last 19 matchups and eight of 10 at Phoenix - including both road meetings last season.

Bertuzzi opened the scoring at 3:25 of the first period, burying a wrist shot from between the faceoff circles.

The Flames doubled their lead when Prust took advantage of Wayne Primeau's forced turnover at center ice and created a 2-on-1 rush, which ended with the rookie firing a wrister past goaltender Mikael Tellqvist with 4:57 left in the session.

"As soon as it went in, there was a lot of excitement going through my body," Prust said. "At that time, you don't know if it is going to stand, but it was good that it meant something and good to give us the lead, a two-goal lead.

"It is always fun to chip in offensively. Our line was flying out there tonight and we were moving the puck well in the offensive zone and playing well in the defensive zone."

Keenan was especially glad to see Prust step up in a big spot.

"The team is really happy for him because he is so involved physically for us," Keenan said.

Enforcer Todd Fedoruk cut the deficit to 2-1 with 62 seconds remaining in the first. Captain Shane Doan stole a pass behind the net and sent the puck to Fedoruk, who put it past Kiprusoff from in front.

"We talked about it for two days how they were going to come in and how they were going to play," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "They did exactly what we thought they were going to do, but unfortunately, we only had a handful of guys who were ready for that type of work-ethic game tonight."

Phaneuf restored Calgary's two-goal lead during a power play at 6:31 of the middle session.

The two-time All-Star blasted a slap shot from blue line that hit the crossbar and dropped to the ice in front of Tellqvist. Phaneuf charged to the net and tapped in the puck to make it 3-1.

Gretzky noted that Phaneuf's toughness is what he would like to see from his team.

"We stress to our guys that going to net makes things happen, but we for some reason want to make that extra pass right now," Gretzky said. "I don't know if it is unselfishness or just being stubborn about it. The way you have success and score goals is going to the net and getting pucks to the net, and that is what Calgary is doing."

Iginla capped the scoring with an empty-netter with 11 seconds remaining in the third.

Phoenix, which has lost four of five, entered 2-0-0 at home for the first time since winning its first five games here in 2000-01.

"We knew they were going to be physical and we told them that toughness comes in all different forms and that you would have to take a hit to make a play," Gretzky said. "We had a couple of guys who took hits, notably Fedoruk and Doan.

"Other then that, we didn't have enough from our forward group to have any success against that kind of a team."