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Iginla, Flames smoke Rangers

Jarome Iginla scored the go-ahead goal and Miikka Kiprusoff made 32 saves as the Calgary Flames beat the New York Rangers 3-1 Saturday night for its third win in a row.
Miikka Kiprusoff, Marian Gaborik
Calgary Flames goalie Mikka Kiprusoff

Flames 3 Rangers 1

CALGARY — Jarome Iginla scored the go-ahead goal and Miikka Kiprusoff made 32 saves as the Calgary Flames beat the New York Rangers 3-1 Saturday night for its third win in a row.

Iginla’s eighth goal of the season at 16:47 of the second period came on a power play, breaking a 1-1 tie.

The goal was neatly set up Nigel Dawes who burst into the Rangers zone along the side boards and from the corner threaded a pass to Iginla in the slot who snapped a shot inside the goal post past goaltender Steve Valiquette.

After a quiet October in which the Flames captain amassed just four goals in 12 games, Iginla has got off to a hot start in November with four goals in the first three games.

Daymond Langkow also scored for Calgary (10-4-1). Home for just one game, the Flames return to the road Tuesday night kicking off a three-game road trip in Montreal.

Daniel Girardi scored for New York (10-7-1). The Rangers lose two of three on their three-game trek through Western Canada.

When New York returns to action next Thursday versus Atlanta, they hope to have Henrik Lundqvist back between the pipes.

With Lundqvist nursing an undisclosed minor injury and with the lengthy layoff coming up, coach John Tortorella opted to give Valiquette his second consecutive start.

Valiquette (2-2-0) was good against the Flames making 19 stops but Kiprusoff was even better.

The veteran Flames goaltender was especially sharp over the final half of the game as New York pressed for the tying goal.

Kiprusoff turned aside all 24 shots he faced over the last two periods to improve to 9-3-1.

In addition to a couple of close-in saves off Marian Gaborik and dangerous chances by Enver Lisin and Vinny Prospal, Kiprusoff also got some help.

Late in the third period when Flames defenceman Adam Pardy fell down giving the Rangers a 2-on-1 rush, David Moss hustled back to tie up Ales Kotalik who failed to get a shot on what was an open net.

Calgary finally got some insurance at 16:35 of the third when Dawes and Bourque worked the puck back and forth with Bourque firing a shot past Valiquette from the side of the net giving the Flames a 3-1 lead.

Tied 1-1, Calgary had a great chance to take the lead five minutes into the second when Rangers forward Ryan Callahan broke his stick while the Rangers were already on a two-man penalty kill.

However, the Flames could not capitalize. Olli Jokinen whiffed on a set-up at the side of the net and Iginla on a similarly dangerous opportunity on the other side of the net had his close-in shot blocked by Girardi.

New York tied the game 1-1 at 17:16 of the first. From the blue-line, Girardi flung a wrist shot towards the Calgary net that found the top corner behind Kiprusoff, who was screened on the play.

Calgary opened the scoring at 3:56 of the first period when Adam Pardy’s wristed a shot from the blue-line that went through a maze of bodies and past Valiquette.