• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Nolan, Phaneuf help Flames gain revenge against Oilers

Feb 10, 2008 - 5:35 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Owen Nolan and All-Star defenseman Dion Phaneuf helped the Calgary Flames even up the "Battle of Alberta" series.

Nolan scored twice and Phaneuf record a goal and an assist as the Flames posted a 4-1 victory over the rival Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.

Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 15 shots and Kristian Huselius and Alex Tanguay each had a pair of assists for Calgary, which avenged a 5-0 loss to Edmonton on Monday.

"Those are fun games to play," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "It feels really good now the way we responded. There was a lot on the line for us, especially after getting embarrassed the other night."

"It was an embarrassing game against them a few nights ago," Kiprusoff added. "I knew we were going to be ready for this one."

Calgary, which had been outscored, 13-6, in losing three of its last four games, dominated play throughout. The Flames outshot the Oilers, 30-15, and evened the eight-game season series at three wins apiece.

"You don't want to stare at the shot clock too much," Oilers captain Ethan Moreau said. "It can be demoralizing when it's as lopsided as it was tonight."

"For some reason, the last few games we had been sitting back and letting teams take the play to us," Nolan said. "We realized that was a mistake, we had to come out harder. I think we limited their shots tonight because of that."

In fairness, Edmonton was shorthanded as All-Star and leading scorer Shawn Horcoff is out for the season with a torn labrum.

As a result, Kiprusoff barely broke a sweat. However, the seven-year veteran had his bid for his first shutout of the season denied by Robert Nilsson, who scored on a breakaway with 3:55 left in the third period.

"With a couple minutes to go, you think about (the shutout)," Kiprusoff said.

Iginla added an empty-netter for the Flames with 97 seconds remaining.

Calgary set the tone early, outshooting Edmonton, 11-3, in the opening period.

Nolan opened the scoring with 3:46 left in the first, when he deflected Phaneuf's shot from the point past goaltender Mathieu Garon and into the left corner of the net for his 13th goal.

"I had my head down and just shot it as hard as I could," Nolan said.

Garon lost his balance and was out of position for the shot.

"I fell when I was coming across," Garon said. "It's just unfortunate."

Phaneuf, who signed a six-year contract extension on Wednesday, doubled the lead with a power-play tally 4:41 into the second. The blue-liner fired a slap shot from the right faceoff circle that beat Garon to the left side for his 10th goal of the campaign.

Nolan made it 3-0 with a slap shot from the left circle with 7:16 left in the second. The barrage from Calgary was a complete turnaround from Monday, when Garon stopped 40 shots to record his fourth shutout of the season.

In this one it was Kiprusoff, who entered with a 1.82 goals-against average in 24 games vs. the Oilers, who had the upper hand.

Garon stopped 27 shots for Edmonton, which had just one power-play opportunity.

"It's hard to win a game when you only have six shots after two periods," Garon said.

"They dominated the game on the scoreboard, but I thought we stood up for ourselves very well," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "Physically, we battled them even, I thought."