Jarome Iginla took full advantage of his second chance.
After being stopped on a breakaway late in the third period, Iginla scored the winning goal in the shootout to give the Calgary Flames a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
''It's an important point, but more than that, it's amazing how different it feels when you win the shootout to when you lose the shootout,'' Iginla said.
The shootout was tied through two shooters, with Olli Jokinen scoring for Calgary and Alex Burrows replying for Vancouver, which set the stage for the Calgary captain and career scoring leader.
Iginla put the Flames ahead when he faked a shot, drew it around Roberto Luongo and jammed it in while he was falling. Miikka Kiprusoff then denied Mason Raymond with a pad stop to end it.
It was a different move for Iginla, who chose to shoot when Alex Tanguay sent him in alone with just over 2 minutes remaining, but he didn't get it as high as he wanted and Luongo stabbed it with his glove.
''I wish I could have that shot back,'' Iginla said. ''I put it half way up the net when I'm trying to go bar there.''
Mike Cammalleri and rookie Roman Horak scored in regulation to help Calgary improve to 26-22-8. The Flames have points in five straight games and stayed within two points of the Phoenix Coyotes and the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Cody Hodgson and David Booth scored for Vancouver (34-25-6). The Canucks, who have points in nine straight, finished 3-0-1 on their four-game trip.
''We played a really good game tonight, from start to finish,'' Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. ''In my mind, this was probably our best game of the road trip and we lost but that's hockey sometimes.''
Vancouver began its comeback with 2 minutes left in the second period when persistent pressure from the fourth line eventually resulted in Hodgson's 15th goal.
Vancouver tied it at 8:04 of the third period on a fortunate bounce.
Dan Hamhuis' slap shot was blocked by Blake Comeau, but the puck caromed right to Booth near the side of the net and he beat Kiprusoff on the short side.
''When you shoot the puck at the net, so much is created,'' Booth said. ''Whether it goes on net, or is blocked, that's how a lot of goals are scored these days.''
Vancouver nearly took a 3-2 lead moments later, but Kiprusoff threw out his glove to spectacularly save a shot off the stick of Henrik Sedin from 10 feet out.
''Their goaltender made some big saves in the second half of the game,'' Vigneault said. ''Louie made a great save with a couple minutes left off Jarome. It was a hard fought game by both teams.''
Kiprusoff finished with 29 saves, and Luongo had 16.
''Tremendous,'' Cammalleri said when asked about Kiprusoff. ''I don't know if anybody's playing as well as he is right now. He's in the zone as they say in sports and we like him there.''
Notes: Each team has won twice in the season series. ... In a pregame ceremony, Kiprusoff received a silver goal stick commemorating his 300th NHL win, which he recorded Wednesday against San Jose. ... Flames radio play-by-play voice Peter Maher called game No. 3,000 in his NHL career.
