Ducks 3 Flames 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Niklas Hagman scored the deciding goal in the eighth round of a shootout and the Anaheim Ducks beat Calgary 3-2 on Monday night for their 14th straight home victory over the Flames.
Bobby Ryan and Matt Beleskey scored less than two minutes apart in the first period for the Ducks, who won the tiebreaker by a 3-2 margin. Jonas Hiller made 24 saves.
The Ducks haven’t lost to the Flames at home since a 5-1 defeat on Jan. 19, 2004 — Calgary’s only regulation win in its last 24 visits to Anaheim (1-13-10). The Flames’ last seven games at Honda Center have resulted in one-goal losses, five of them either in overtime or a shootout.
Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary. Miikka Kiprusoff had 31 saves in the opener of a three-game road trip.
The Flames, three points out of a playoff spot with 29 games left, are trying to avoid a third straight season out of the post-season under coach Brent Sutter. The only time they’ve missed the post-season three years in a row was 1998-00 when Sutter’s brother, Brian, was the coach.
If it comes down to the final day of the season, their opponent will be the Ducks in Calgary.
The Flames were trailing 2-1 in the third period when Anaheim defenceman Luca Sbisa received a five-minute major for head-butting Tim Jackman as he crossed the Anaheim blue-line with the puck and leaving him dazed for a few moments. Calgary’s Tom Kostopoulos took exception and got a roughing penalty during the ensuing skirmish, leaving Calgary with a three-minute power play.
Iginla capitalized with the man advantage, beating Hiller on a breakaway to the stick side with 13:45 left in regulation off a feed from Olli Jokinen. It was the second breakaway goal in two games for Iginla, who extended his streak of consecutive seasons with 20 or more to 13 — the longest among active players.
The Flames got a break when a goal by Ryan Getzlaf was waved off due to a goaltender interference penalty against Corey Perry at 8:23 of the first. But the Ducks eventually opened the scoring at the 15:52 mark when Ryan got the puck in the slot from Lubomir Visnovsky and got his 20th goal on a 30-foot wrist shot while Perry was screening Kiprusoff.
Beleskey added his fourth of the season at 17:51, redirecting Sheldon Brookbank’s one-timer from the right point past Kiprusoff’s stick. The 2006 Vezina Trophy winner remained one victory shy of becoming the 27th goalie in NHL history with at least 300 regular-season wins.
Tanguay got the Flames on the board at 4:41 of the second with his sixth goal and first in four games since returning from a neck injury that sidelined him for 15 games. He converted a pass from behind the net by Blair Jones and scored from the edge of the crease just two seconds after Calgary killed off an elbowing penalty against Kostopoulos.
Jones received a double-minor for cutting Teemu Selanne with a high stick after Scott Hannan was sent off for interference, giving Anaheim a two-man advantage for 1:36 later in the period. Kiprusoff made three saves during the 5-on-3 power play, and Saku Koivu fired two pucks off the post.