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Cammalleri, Glencross help Flames edge Canucks

Nov 28, 2008 - 7:07 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Mike Cammalleri provided quite a bridge for Curtis Glencross to lift the Calgary Flames.

Cammalleri recorded a hat trick before Glencross snapped a tie with 6:31 left in the third period as the Flames held on for a 4-3 victory over the Canucks on Thursday.

Captain Jarome Iginla and Daymond Langkow each had two assists and Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves for the Flames, who defeated the Canucks for the first time in three meetings.

"It was nice," Kiprusoff said. "We've been playing pretty strong lately and I think we're pretty confident. Again, we played pretty tight defense and when we score four goals in a road game, you usually get two points."

Darcy Hordichuk and Mason Raymond each scored, while Daniel Sedin also tallied, but the Canucks saw their four-game win streak end as they yielded more than two goals for the second time in 11 contests.

The teams conclude a home-and-home series in Calgary on Saturday.

"This is big. I'm not going to hide it," Cammalleri said. "We knew how well they were playing. We looked at the standings and we knew how crucial these points could be. We talked about this series and it's important to get the first one, otherwise it's an uphill battle. Now it gives us a chance to have a really special series on Saturday."

Cammalleri stole the show, but Glencross closed the curtain on the Canucks after stealing the puck at the blue line and lifting a backhander over Curtis Sanford to secure the victory.

"It was during the last five minutes of the game and I didn't want to be too aggressive," Glencross said. "I was fortunate enough to jump on the loose puck. We kind of had a bitter thought in our mind after our shift before that we gave up a goal and we wanted to get that goal back for us. It's nice to get that opportunity."

Glencross has tallied in three straight games. He had no points in two meetings with Vancouver this season, which translated into a 6-0 loss on October 9 and a 5-4 overtime defeat two days later.

"It's huge for us," Glencross said. "Definitely that first game of the season was in our mind. We had to come back out hard tonight and it was good to get rewarded after working hard all last week and changing a few things up and it worked out again for us tonight."

Cammalleri gave Calgary a 3-2 lead 78 seconds into the third, but Raymond evened the game 10 minutes later by converting passes from Kyle Wellwood and Taylor Pyatt while sitting on the doorstep.

"It's always a competitive game when the Flames and the Canucks get together," Flames coach Mike Keenan said. "It was a solid win for us. We had to come from behind twice in their building to get the victory. It took a lot of effort and some consistency on our part."

Hordichuk opened the scoring 5:33 into the first and after Cammalleri netted his first goal of the game with the man advantage nearly three minutes later, Daniel Sedin tapped a loose puck in the crease over Kiprusoff midway through the session.

Henrik Sedin notched his 400th career point with an assist on his brother's goal.

"It would be nice if we won the game for sure," Henrik Sedin said. "It's nothing you really think about out there."

Cammalleri scored the lone goal in the second, firing a snap shot from the right faceoff circle with 2:59 remaining.

Starting his fourth straight game in the wake of All-Star netminder Roberto Luongo's injury, Sanford made 29 saves for the Canucks.

Luongo, who is 11-5-2 with a 2.17 goals-against average, is not expected to return until next week at the earliest.

"I think we made some mistakes that they were able to pounce on and make us pay for," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "Whether it be defensive zone turnovers or neutral zone turnovers, they were able to jump on those and make us pay. They played better than we did tonight. They were stronger on the puck. It was a hard-fought game, but they were the better on the game."