Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Cammalleri leads Flames past Canucks

Michael Cammalleri scored three times, and Curtis Glencross added the winner on a breakaway with 6:31 left in the Calgary Flames' 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.

Cammalleri's hat trick goal gave the Flames a 3-2 lead 1:18 into the third period.

Mason Raymond tied it with his first goal in 10 games on a 2-on-1 break on a delayed penalty, but Glencross intercepted a pass at the Vancouver blue line just over 2 minutes later and beat Curtis Sanford with a backhand shot.

Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves to help the Flames win for the fourth time in five games and move within three points of the Northwest Division-leading Canucks _ with a chance to close the gap Saturday night in the rematch in Calgary.

Darcy Hordichuk, with his first as a Canuck, and Daniel Sedin also scored for the Canucks, who lost in regulation for the first time in 11 games (8-1-2).

Sanford made 29 saves but lost for the first time in four games, the last three after star goalie Roberto Luongo hurt his groin Saturday.

Cammalleri's first goal was a good break _ a power-play pass from the goal line that went in off Canucks defenseman Sami Salo's skate _ but his next two were perfect one-timers after nice passes from Calgary captain Jarome Iginla.

Cammalleri got his second goal on a delayed penalty, snapping in Iginla's cross-ice feed before Sanford could get across his net with 2:59 left in the second period. Cammalleri scored his third goal from the left faceoff circle, snapping a shot past Sanford on the short side after Iginla's pass from behind the net.

Kiprusoff was at his best shortly before Cammalleri's second goal, stopping Jannik Hansen on a breakaway and getting his blocker out to rob Mason Raymond at the end of consecutive power plays that included a 53-second 5-on-3.

Calgary center Daymond Langkow matched Iginla with two assists.

Notes:@ Vancouver, which swept a home-and-home series with Calgary to start the season, plays its next seven games on the road. Both teams were missing two forwards from their previous wins. Calgary was without Dustin Boyd (shoulder) and Wayne Primeau (foot), while the Canucks were missing Steve Bernier (shoulder) and Ryan Johnson, who played six weeks with a broken foot before being sidelined by a broken finger. Johnson is expected to miss three to five weeks. ... Vancouver D Kevin Bieksa, who leads the defense in scoring and the team average ice time, returned just two weeks and six games after being diagnosed with a broken foot.

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