CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Miikka Kiprusoff became the first goalie in 25
years to stop two penalty shots in a game to help the Calgary Flames
improve their playoff position.
A night after Columbus' R.J. Umberger
missed on a penalty shot in a loss in Edmonton, the Blue Jackets missed
on both chances against Kiprusoff in Calgary's 4-3 victory Friday night.
Matt Calvert failed to score on the
first attempt in the second period and Vermette missed with a chance to
tie it midway through the third.
"There's nothing you can do," Kiprusoff said. "You just have to make sure you stop it."
It's the first time a goalie has turned
aside two penalty shots in an NHL game since Detroit's Corrado Micalef
stopped Pierre Larouche and Mike Ridley of the New York Rangers on Feb.
16, 1986.
"That's definitely not history you want
to be a part of," Calvert said. "He got me on that one. I was trying to
go shelf and trying to get him to move, but he read it pretty good and
stayed in one spot and I didn't have much to shoot at."
The Flames jumped from a tie for seventh
place to fifth alone in the congested Western Conference standings.
They are 14-3-3 in their last 20 games.
Rene Bourque and Curtis Glencross scored
power-play goals in a 1:21 span midway through the second period with
Columbus' Antoine Vermette serving a double-minor for high-sticking to
make it 4-2.
Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen scored
first-period goals for Calgary. Iginla has 29 goals in his bid to become
the 10th NHL player to score at least 30 goals in 10 seasons. Glencross
also had two assists.
Kiprusoff, making his 19th straight start, finished with 37 saves for his 30th victory.
"He gives us a chance to win every
night," Jokinen said. "You can see how focused he is every day. He's the
biggest reason we've been winning games."
The Blue Jackets have failed to score on five penalty shots this season, four in the last five games.
"You get that many penalty shots like
we have in the last little stretch here, you'd think sooner or later the
odds are that you're going to score on it," Columbus coach Scott Arniel
said.
Trailing 4-2 after two periods, the Blue Jackets outshot the Flames 16-4 in the final frame.
"If you're going to try and make it to
the next level and get to the playoffs, you have to find a way to beat
these guys and we had more than our share of opportunities to equal that
game tonight," Arniel said. "We peppered them pretty good in the
third."
Craig Rivet opened the scoring for
Columbus in the first and Vermette tied it in the second before taking
the costly penalty. Jan Hejda cut it to 3-2 early in the third.
Columbus has lost four straight, all on the road, to fall to 12th in the West.
Columbus goalie Steve Mason made 24 saves.
The Flames went on the key extended power play when Vermette high-sticked David Moss.
"Obviously, it's an accident," Vermette
said. "This time of year, it makes a difference -- penalty killing and
power play -- and they capitalized on that."
After Bourque backhanded a rebound past Mason to put Calgary up 3-2, Glencross tipped in a point shot.
Calvert was awarded his penalty when he
was hauled down from behind by defenseman Mark Giordano, but Kiprusoff
made a blocker save to keep the Flames up by a pair heading to the
third.
Columbus made it 4-3 at 6:43 of the
final period when Hejda blasted a point shot through traffic into the
top corner behind Kiprusoff.
Vermette had a chance to tie it when he
was awarded his penalty shot after Anton Babchuk was ruled to have
thrown his stick trying to break up the play. Kiprusoff made stopped
Vermette with his left arm.
"He made two great saves on two penalty
shots," Glencross said. "Kipper stuck in there for us and played
another great game."
NOTES:
With Brendan Morrison (knee) and Mikael Backlund (flu) out of the
lineup, trade-deadline acquisitions Fredrik Modin and Brett Carson made
their Flames debuts. ... Columbus forward Samuel Pahlsson played in his
700th regular-season game.
Updated March 4, 2011
