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Boyd's first career goal lifts Flames

Jan 7, 2007 - 7:32 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Dustin Boyd picked a great time to score his first NHL goal.

Boyd tallied with just 2:17 left in the third period to snap a tie and lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars.

A third-round pick in 2004 who was playing in his sixth career game, Boyd put Calgary ahead, 3-2, with a timely goal.

Defenseman Andrew Ference's slap shot from the right point went wide and bounced off the end boards to Boyd, who flipped it past goaltender Marty Turco from near the left goalpost.

"I had an opportunity coming off the bench there," Boyd said. "I was just going to the net and get open for a rebound. It hit the back boards and came right to me. I've got to bury those opportunities."

"I don't have much to say on the game-winner," Turco said. "It was pretty basic. It happened."

Byron Ritchie scored two goals and Alex Tanguay added an empty-net tally and a pair of assists for Calgary, which improved to 16-5-0 at home. "We needed guys to step up in offensive roles," Ritchie said. "I happened to get a couple of goals tonight and Boyd scored that huge game-winning goal. We need guys like that to do that every game, make big plays at big times and Dustin did that tonight."

Ritchie's first goal came at 16:53 of the first period when he snuck a shot between the body and arm of Turco from the slot. His second tally came just 1:17 of the second period and gave the Flames a 2-1 lead when he took a pass from Tanguay and redirected it past Turco.

"The first one, I just wanted to get a shot off," Ritchie said. "I beat him seven-hole. On the second one, (Matthew) Lombardi made a great play on the forecheck to turn the puck over, and Tanguay made a pass that most guys wouldn't have made. I just had to bang it in the empty net." Calgary netminder Miikka Kiprusoff finished with 31 saves to earn his third win in his last four starts.

"We had a lot of shots, a lot of opportunities," Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor said. "Kiprusoff made some big saves. He's a top goaltender in the league."

"He was phenomenal," Ritchie said of Kiprusoff. "He stood on his head and really kept us in the game. He made unbelievable saves in the clutch time when we needed him."

Jere Lehtinen and Sydor scored for Dallas, which lost for the third time in four games.

Calgary played its first game without captain Jarome Iginla, who suffered a knee injury during a fight in the second period of a 5-4 overtime win over Florida on Thursday. The star right wing, who is out indefinitely, leads the Flames with 23 goals and 53 points.