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Iginla helps Flames overcome Mueller's hat trick

Feb 6, 2008 - 6:55 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- It's official - Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla's cold streak is over.

Iginla tied the game with eight seconds left in regulation and scored the decisive goal in the shootout as the Flames rallied from a three-goal deficit to post a 4-3 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night.

All-Star defenseman Dion Phaneuf started the comeback with a pair of third-period goals for the Flames, which avoided a three-game losing streak.

Craig Conroy praised Phaneuf afterward.

"He just stepped it right up. We needed a spark. He was the key to the whole thing," Conroy said of the 22-year-old. "Huge first goal, got a good break maybe on the second one. He broke his stick, and maybe it threw the goalie off a little bit. Those are the breaks you need."

Peter Mueller, who was named NHL Rookie of the Month for January on Monday, helped the Coyotes get out to a 3-0 advantage by recording his second career hat trick over the first two periods.

Iginla, who was goalless in his previous nine games, forced overtime when he snapped a shot from the right faceoff circle over the right shoulder of goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov with just eight seconds remaining in the third, tying the contest at 3-3.

"I was happy to see it go in for a number of reasons, for sure," Iginla said. "It was a nice play by (defenseman Robyn) Regehr to keep it in. If he goes around the back of the net, probably time's over. There were eight seconds left.

"He gave it to me, I was trying to turn around. It's funny. Some nights you're just trying to keep putting it to the net, and the ones you don't expect, they go sometimes."

Calgary coach Mike Keenan knew Iginla's drought would soon be over.

"You're not going to keep him off the board forever," Keenan said. "And he kept pushing to score. Most often, you don't get the goals with the goalie out, but we got control of the puck and he had a chance to put it in the net with a super-quick release."

The 30-year-old was not done, however. He was also the hero in the bonus format, scoring the lone tally in the third round.

Iginla skated in on Bryzgalov, deked to his backhand, and lifted the puck over the diving netminder. Miikka Kiprusoff then stopped Steven Reinprecht to secure the win.

It took Mueller just 23 seconds to open the scoring in his one. The 19-year-old center capitalized on a Flames' turnover in the neutral zone.

Joel Perrault dished to Shane Doan between the circles, and the Coyotes' captain faked a shot before sliding a pass to Mueller, who converted to for an early 1-0 advantage.

Iginla then did just what everyone in the Pengrowth Saddledome had been waiting for him to do - he got mad.

The club's leading scorer fought fellow All-Star Ed Jovanovski with 7:33 left in the first period in an attempt to change the momentum of the game.

Phoenix, however, doubled the advantage with 9:09 remaining in the second as Mueller netted his second goal of the night. Mueller received a pass from behind the net by defenseman Zbynek Michalek and had his first shot stopped by Kiprusoff before stuffing in the rebound.

Mueller completed his natural hat trick with 65 seconds left in the second, taking a pass from Perrault and firing a shot between Kiprusoff's pads.

"It's always nice when your line puts some points up," Mueller said. "Those two points for the team are the biggest things on our mind right now."

Phaneuf notched his eighth goal of the season at 7:01 of the third to end the Flames' goalless drought of over 166 minutes and added another with 6:01 left to cut the deficit to 3-2.

"I thought Dion was a big force tonight," Iginla said. "He just kept pushing it on them, going to the net, driving, and he got that first goal. It was huge."

Kiprusoff turned aside 20 shots, while Bryzgalov made 35 saves.

"They just outplayed us, outworked us, the whole game," Bryzgalov said. "We don't create a lot of scoring chances. We're not trying to play our game. We just defend the whole game long."