Jarome Iginla lights up Calgary Flames to thrash Colorado Avalanche by 5-2 - NHL Updates
It was probably those green jerseys they wore during practice that gave Flames a little Irish luck on St. Patrick’s Day, as Jarome Iginla scored twice against Colorado Avalanche, dumping them for their 10th straight loss at the Scotiabank Saddledome
in Calgary, Alberta, on Thursday night, by 5-2.
Calgary hopped over Anaheim Ducks by snapping their three-game losing streak to regain an eighth playoff spot with 83 points. They’ll need to win their match with Edmonton on Saturday to retain their position, as Nashville who is behind them by only two
points, plays on the same day against Dallas.
Iginla opened up the match on a two-man advantage, firing it through Peter Budaj who couldn’t react fast enough to stop it.
Mark Giordano added the second on the same double power-play, 24 seconds later, when sliding a loose puck through Budaj’s legs.
"I thought right from the start we had our tempo up and we were able to draw the penalties," Captain Iginla said. "Fortunately we were able to get one and then get Gio's goal right afterward. That was huge."
Mark Olver reacted fast to cut Flames’ lead, making his first NHL goal by backhanding it over Miikka Kiprusoff’s left pad on an assist from Matt Duchene.
The sold-out crowd couldn’t get any happier when Rene Bourque scored a clean shot from the top corner with 18 seconds remaining, ending the first period at 3-1.
Both goalies managed to shutout the opposition in the second 20 minutes, Budaj made a total of 23 saves, 10 in the second alone as Kiprusoff got his 33rd win of the season blocking 27 shot attempts.
Entering the final period, Avalanche had a lot of weight on their shoulders and knew Calgary wouldn’t slow down, so there wasn’t any point in trying.
AHL call up, Ales Kotalik, for Brenden Morrison and David Moss, tipped in a long pass from Niklas Hagman, 4:36 in. It was followed by Iginlas’ second of the night just two minutes later to secure the match.
It was his 32nd of the season, which inducted him 49th on the list of all time NHL scorers with 473 goals.
Duchene picked up his second assist of the match, sliding the puck to Cody McLeod who scored on a power play with six seconds remaining, but of no use.
Calgary had taken the game right after Iggy’s goal and they perfectly knew that.
"They wanted it," Olver said about Calgary’s performance. "They came out strong, they came out hard. They took advantage of their power plays."
Flames will take off on a four-game road trip and still have some easy matches coming up with Oilers and Colorado again, which should be easy points for them.
Colorado is the second worst right now in the Western Conference, right after Edmonton, and the playoffs aren’t something they are hoping for.
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