Iginla: 30 goals in 10 straight seasons
Jarome Iginla reached a milestone in an unlikely way.
Iginla scored on a penalty early in the second period to become the 10th NHL player to reach 30 goals in 10 straight seasons, helping the Flames beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 on Sunday night.
''I never dreamt it would be on a penalty shot,'' Iginla said. ''I've had a few of them in front of the fans here at home and I haven't put any penalty shots in at home until that, so that was a treat for me.''
Mike Gartner and Jaromir Jagr share the record with 15 consecutive 30-goal seasons.
''I definitely feel extremely blessed to hit that and be able to do it 10 years,'' Iginla said. ''It's something that when I started out, I never would have dreamt that.''
The 33-year-old Iginla has 471 goals, two behind Denis Savard and Alex Mogilny for 49th place in NHL history.
Iginla was awarded the penalty shot when he was tugged from behind by Sergei Kostitsyn on a breakaway on Pekka Rinne. On the penalty shot, Iginla slid the puck through Rinne's legs to tie it at 2.
''I thought that I had it, but he's a good goal scorer for a reason and he put it through me and it was a big goal at the time, for sure,'' Rinne said.
Curtis Glencross broke the tie midway through the third, jamming in a rebound off Rene Bourque's shot.
''We kept trying to get pucks and bodies to the net as much as we could all night,'' Glencross said. ''Olli (Jokinen) tried to put it out front and it was sitting there for me and I had an open net.''
Mark Giordano had a power-play goal in the first, Jokinen had two assists and Miikka Kiprusoff made 21 saves for Calgary. The Flames, fifth in the Western Conference, are 15-3-3 in their past 21 games and 10-1-3 in their past 14 at home.
Martin Erat and Ryan Suter scored in the first for Nashville, tied for ninth in the West with Anaheim and Minnesota, a point behind Los Angeles. The Predators are 2-5-1 in their past eight.
''It stings,'' Predators defenseman Shane O'Brien said. ''We had a chance to go up 3-1 on the power play and we had a couple chances and we just don't bury them. We keep making the same mistakes over and over again and that's why we're on the outside looking in.''
Kiprusoff's best stops came in a scramble in the final seconds when the Predators poured on the pressure with Rinne off for an extra attacker. With 5 seconds left, defenseman Shea Weber fired a slap shot from the blue line that Kiprusoff sprawled to get a piece of.
Rinne made 33 saves. He's 0-4-2 against the Flames, one of only three teams he hasn't beaten.
''This was for sure our biggest game of the year, so right now we're disappointed,'' Rinne said. ''But at least we have a chance to bounce back right away in San Jose.''
NOTES: Iginla is 2 for 8 on penalty shots. His other goal came Nov. 10, 2005, against Phoenix's Curtis Joseph. Iginla has only been used once in Calgary's 13 shootouts this season, failing to score in his one chance. ... Calgary's Mikael Backlund was back in the lineup after missing a game because of the flu.