• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Iginla breaks franchise goals mark as Flames rout Blues

Mar 11, 2008 - 6:15 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Jarome Iginla's milestone goal wasn't how he would have drawn it up, but they all count the same.

Iginla scored to pass Theoren Fleury for the franchise lead in goals and added a pair of assists as the Calgary Flames posted a 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

Held without a goal for the past two games, Iginla finally notched career tally No. 365 when he one-timed a pass from Kristian Huselius past All-Star goaltender Manny Legace at 18:27 of the first period for a 3-1 lead.

Iginla's shot had an element of luck as it bounced off the back of defenseman Eric Brewer before finding the net.

"I'd love to pretend I visualized that," Iginla said. "I'd love to say I had that one but I didn't think I had all of it. It went off to the right. I didn't see that coming."

Legace said he respected Iginla, but wasn't happy with the way he became part of history.

"I got a chance (to meet him) at the All-Star game, he's super guy," Legace said.

"I can't believe he's going to count that one that went off his pants," he said. "I'd say he take it back and do it again properly. It's a great feat. As a goalie or a pitcher, you never want to give up that base hit or that home run. I don't think he should count that one going off of his pants."

An 11-year-veteran, Iginla's 41st goal of the season moved him into fourth place in the league with 81 points. It also helped chase Legace, who stopped eight shots before being relieved by Hannu Toivonen at the start of the second period.

"It's hard to believe how fast it goes," Iginla said. "I may not look that young but I still feel that young."

"It was shocking," said Legace of getting pulled. "Those three goals were deflected off my defensemen. I should have had the first one, even though it was deflected, but you can't do much when it goes off your defensemen."

Alex Tanguay scored twice and added an assist, Huselius netted a goal and set up another and All-Star defenseman Dion Phaneuf collected there assists for Calgary.

Marcus Nilson, Matthew Lombardi and Daymond Langkow also scored and Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 29 shots the Flames (36-23-10), who improved to 7-1-2 in their last 10 games and moved one point ahead of the idle Minnesota Wild (37-26-7) for first place in the Northwest Division.

"It's another important game for us and we get the two points," Lombardi said.

"This is a nice night and something I'll remember a pretty cool feeling to be atop of the goal scoring," Iginla said. "But I want to win a Stanley Cup and I like our team. It's all about gearing up now and keep getting better."

Brad Boyes scored twice and David Backes added a goal for St. Louis (29-30-10), which is 12 points behind Vancouver (35-24-10) for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. The Canucks rallied for a 2-1 overtime victory over Los Angeles.

Calgary wasted little time taking control as Tanguay scored on a breakaway just 21 seconds into the game. Huselius made it a two-goal bulge by snapping a 20-game drought with his 22nd tally of the season at 7:13 of the first.

Backes halved the deficit with his 10th goal of the campaign at 9:06 of the first and, after Iginla's tally, Boyes got St. Louis within 3-2 just 6:38 into the second.

But Lombardi restored the two-goal lead with his 11th at 9:02 of the period. Lombardi snapped a 19-game goalless drought by deking Toivonen and sliding a backhander into the right side of the net.

"You go through parts of the season, ups and downs," Lombardi said. "You can't score five, six goals every game, but we know we have confidence in this group. We have a lot of depth."

Nilson and Langkow scored 65 seconds apart in the third as the Flames broke open the game. Nilson notched his third goal of the season at 6:51 and Langkow tallied at 7:56.

Boyes' team-leading 36th goal at 11:47 drew the Blues within 6-3, but Tanguay clinched the victory with a shorthanded empty-netter with 4:51 to play.

Toivonen stopped 15 shots for St. Louis, which fell to 1-12-1 in the last 14 meetings between the teams.