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McDonald, McClement lead Blues past Flames

Mar 21, 2009 - 5:14 AM CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- The St. Louis Blues earned some high praise from Calgary coach Mike Keenan after another hard-fought victory.

Andy McDonald and Jay McClement scored in a 51-second span midway through the third period, and Chris Mason made 33 saves in St. Louis' 3-2 victory Friday night.

"The most telling stat tonight, and it's a compliment of the effort of all the players on St. Louis' side, is they had 24 blocked shots to our six," Keenan said. "It's pretty telling about their effort and their desperation to win a game."

T.J. Oshie added a short-handed goal to help St. Louis jump into ninth place in the Western Conference, two points behind Nashville for the final playoff spot.

"That's how we've been getting our wins all year," said Mason, 15-6-5 in his last 26 games with a 1.99 goals-against average. "We've had to fight for every point we've got and the guys didn't give up tonight."

Mike Cammalleri and Dustin Boyd scored for Calgary, three points ahead of Vancouver for the Northwest Division lead.

"Home ice is very important, but it's also important for us at this time of year to play properly, and to get better," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "We had a good game going until the third when they went bang-bang."

McDonald tied the score 2-2 at 9:24. Brad Boyes sent a cross-ice pass that left McDonald with an empty net to shoot at with Miikka Kiprusoff trapped out of position.

McClement then put the Blues in front, curling out of the corner and scoring on a harmless-looking shot that somehow trickled past Kiprusoff.

"It wasn't a great shot by any means," McClement said. "I was just trying to get it on the net and maybe get a little action off of it, maybe a second chance, but thankfully it went in."

Iginla assisted on both Calgary goals.

"They just came out and won the third period and took it away from us," Iginla said. "On our part we know that's unacceptable. It's our building and the third period has been ours all year. We let one slip away."