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Iginla's goal lifts Flames past Red Wings

Apr 18, 2007 - 7:13 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- The Calgary Flames got back in the "Saddle" and back in the series.

Jarome Iginla and defenseman Mark Giordano scored third-period goals as the Flames rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings in their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

After a pair of crushing losses in Detroit in which they were outscored, 7-2, and outshot, 97-35, the Flames cut the series lead to 2-1 in the friendly confines of the Pengrowth Saddledome, where they were an NHL-best 30-9-2 this season.

"Our crowd was very charged up tonight. It's definitely a boost," Iginla said. "It gets us up at different times of the game and it can put the other team off a bit. And part of it is confidence, we're at home and we believe we can play our game and we can beat anyone at home."

Inspired by the raucous home crowd, Calgary dominated the opening period, enjoying a 9-4 edge in shots on goals.

The Flames also converted 2-of-6 power-play attempts and, after falling behind in the opening minute of the third period, scored twice in under five minutes to reclaim the lead. In short, Calgary did everything it failed to do in Detroit.

"They did what we expected, they came out and played hard in their building," said Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, who was victimized on the tying goal in the third period. "They got their power play going well, they got a couple of goals and it's something we have to adjust to."

Calgary took its first lead of the series on a power-play goal by Matthew Lombardi midway through the middle session.

Working a give-and-go with Alex Tanguay, Lombardi charged toward the net and chipped a return pass from Lombardi past goaltender Dominik Hasek with 10:40 left in the period.

"I wasn't surprised with their game," Hasek said. "They work hard around the net and they had more shots than both games in Detroit. I thought both teams had chances to win the game and they were a little bit luckier. The difference was the power play."

Kris Draper just 2:10 later, getting the toe of his stick on a rebound of Daniel Cleary's shot and barely nudging the puck into the net. Draper tallied again just 39 seconds into the final period, helped out by a thunderous check by Cleary on Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

Cleary regain the puck as a wobbly Phaneuf struggled to regain his bearings and sent the puck out front to Draper, who rifled a shot past Hasek for a 2-1 lead.

"Draper got that big goal, but we found ways to keep going," Iginla said. "We all know the importance of this game and it was by far the biggest game of our year."

Indeed, the Flames refused to wilt and got the equalizer four minutes later.

Giordano knotted the score at 2-2 with a superb effort on the power play. He stole a pass from Lidstrom and wristed a shot past Hasek with 15:17 remaining.

"I think (Lidstrom) was just trying to chip it to their forward, and I don't know if the puck hopped there, he just missed it," Giordano said. "I saw it coming to me so I just took it to the middle, saw Iggy (Iginla) and snapped it."

That left it up to Calgary captain Iginla, the team's leading scorer with 94 points during the regular season, to supply the heroics.

Limited to just two shots in the first two games, Iginla made his first goal of the series count, taking a pass from Wayne Primeau just inside the right faceoff circle and scoring on a snap shot that beat Hasek stick-side with 10:39 to play.

"He (Iginla) had some chances earlier on in the game and he came up big for us at a critical time," Calgary defenseman Brad Stuart said.

Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff made the lead stand up, including a stop of Mathieu Schneider's blast through traffic with 21 seconds to play.

Game Four is Thursday night in Calgary.

"I think the crowd gave them a good lift early," said Cleary, who had two assists. "But we had some chances on the power play early but couldn't capitalize. We just have to be ready for Thursday."