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Cammalleri, Ramo key as Flames overwhelm Rangers

Mar 29, 2014 - 6:09 AM Calgary, AB (SportsNetwork.com) - Mike Cammalleri registered the deciding goal late in the second period and Karri Ramo came up with 38 saves, as Calgary surprised the New York Rangers with a 4-3 victory at the Saddledome.

Joe Colborne, Mark Giordano and Kevin Westgarth added markers for the Flames, winners in four of their last six.

Brian Boyle, Raphael Diaz and Brad Richards scored in a second-period burst for the Rangers, who were denied a sixth consecutive win in the first of four in a row on the road against Western Conference opponents.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped only 24-of-28 shots in defeat. The Blueshirts' lead over the Flyers for home ice in the first round was reduced to one point, after Philly beat Toronto earlier Friday.

"If it's not Philly, it's probably some other team," New York forward Brad Richards said. "There's a bunch of teams around us. We just want our two points. We do control our own destiny, and we want to do it, but that's the disappointing thing. We aren't worried about Philly right now."

As time wound down in the second period, Flames defenseman Chris Butler kicked a failed Rangers' clear right to Cammalleri on the right wing. He did the rest, skating into the offensive zone and beating Lundqvist through the pads with a shot just hard enough from the circle with 7.8 seconds left to send the hosts ahead 4-3.

"That's an opportunity maybe to get a shot off in stride where you might not usually," Cammalleri said. "I just tried to shoot it in stride the best I could. I thought by our [defense] making a quick up-play there, we were able to create a gap. Their [defense] got caught."

Ramo made sure the slim edge held up with 11 stops in the third period. The visitors' hopes for a comeback were derailed when Martin St. Louis was sent off for holding with 2:08 to play.

Derek Dorsett went to the box for cross checking just after the three-minute mark and Colborne produced his 10th of the season, off a goalmouth scramble at 4:51, to give the hosts a 1-0 edge.

St. Louis appeared to have evened things at 6:49, but a review determined the puck was directed in off his skate, and that was a bad omen for the Rangers as Giordano scored with 3:11 left and Calgary took a 2-0 lead after one.

New York surged ahead with three strikes in a 3:27 span early in the second. Boyle's tap-in of a Dorsett dish eluded Ramo at the 2:12 mark, Diaz unleashed a long slapper from the right point to tie the game only 39 seconds later, and Richards put the Rangers ahead off a 2-on-1 break with 5:39 elapsed.

The Flames tied it at 13:49. Westgarth shot high from between the circles, then Matt Stajan fished out the puck and flipped it into the crease, and the Princeton product pushed it past Lundqvist at the right post.

Game Notes

Calgary improved to 17-6-7 all-time at home against New York ... The Rangers revealed prior to the game that forward Chris Kreider will be lost indefinitely following successful hand surgery ... T.J. Brodie collected a pair of assists for the Flames.