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Phaneuf leads Flames past Coyotes

Feb 20, 2008 - 6:41 AM By Bob Huhn PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) - With the eighth place in the Western Conference on the line, the Calgary Flames' All-Stars came through.

Defenseman Dion Phaneuf tallied twice and fellow All-Star Jarome Iginla scored two goals and set up another as the Flames defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-1, on Tuesday night.

Daymond Langkow added two assists for Calgary, which entered the contest tied with Phoenix for the eighth spot in West.

"This was a more consistent performance tonight from start to finish," Flames coach Mike Keenan said. "This is when your best players have to be your best players and, tonight, they set a tempo for the game."

The Flames are now tied with the Canucks for seventh place, while the Coyotes sit two points out of the playoff picture in ninth.

Just 30 seconds after the Coyotes evened the contest at 1-1, Phaneuf broke the tie with a power-play tally at the 7:21 mark of the second period.

Iginla took a shot from the right faceoff circle that was stopped by goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, but the rebound came right back to the captain, who followed with wrister that hit the right post. That shot caromed to the left circle where Phaneuf wristed a shot past the netminder for a 2-1 edge.

Phaneuf added an insurance tally at 2:32 of the third session when his slap shot from the point beat a screened Bryzgalov.

"The second (tally) was good but the third goal was huge, making it a two-goal lead," Phaneuf said. "Our forwards were great tonight, getting in traffic and luckily they got through."

The Coyotes thought they halved the deficit with just over three minutes remaining, it was waved off despite an argument from nearly every Phoenix player on the ice.

"The referee called what he thought he saw. What he didn't see was it wasn't in the crease and our player was pushed by their defenseman - but he still was not in the crease," Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said. "That is not why we lost the game though. We lost because they played like a playoff game and we played like it was an exhibition game in September. We played with no grit tonight."

Iginla notched an empty-netter with 35 seconds left to provide the final margin.

"We knew the importance of this game. Everyone knew how important this game was and everyone showed up," Iginla said. "It was a desperate game for us and it has been a while for us to play a complete game like this.

"This game was like a playoff game for us and we needed the win because we haven't been happy with the way we have been playing lately."

After a scoreless first period, Calgary opened the scoring on Iginla's first goal. The All-Star right wing took a hard hit to the boards by defenseman Keith Ballard, but then went right to the front of the net where he redirected a slap shot from the left point by blue-liner Adrian Aucoin past Bryzgalov at 3:53 of the second period.

"I got lucky," Iginla said. "After taking a big hit like that, I was fortunate to get one right after because he got me pretty good."

Miikka Kiprusoff made 24 saves for Calgary, while Bryzgalov stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced.