Iginla nets winner in Flames' 3-1 win over Rangers

CALGARY, Alberta — Jarome Iginla scored the go-ahead goal and Miikka Kiprusoff made 32 saves as the Calgary Flames beat the New York Rangers 3-1 Saturday night for their third win in a row.

Iginla's eighth goal of the season at 16:47 of the second period came on a power play and broke a 1-1 tie.

Daymond Langkow also scored for Calgary (10-4-1). Home for just one game, the Flames return to the road Tuesday night kicking off a three-game road trip in Montreal.

Dan Girardi scored for New York (10-7-1), which went 1-2 on its trip to Western Canada. The Rangers lost captain Chris Drury less than one minute into the game when Flames forward Curtis Glencross caught the unsuspecting Drury with a shoulder to the head.

Iginla's goal was set up by former Rangers forward Nigel Dawes, who threaded a pass to Iginla in the slot. Iginla quickly snapped a shot inside the post past goalie Steve Valiquette.

After a quiet October in which Iginla had four goals in 12 games, the Flames captain four goals in his first four November games.

New York hopes to have No. 1 goalie Henrik Lundqvist back on the ice Thursday when the Rangers face Atlanta. Lundqvist was held out for a second straight game because of an undisclosed minor injury.

Valiquette was good against the Flames in making 19 stops, but Kiprusoff was even better. Kiprusoff was especially sharp over the final half of the game as New York pressed for the tying goal.

He turned aside all 24 shots he faced over the last two periods to improve to 9-3-1.

In addition to a couple of close-in saves off Marian Gaborik and dangerous chances by Enver Lisin and Vinny Prospal, Kiprusoff also got some help.

Late in the third period when Flames defenseman Adam Pardy fell to give the Rangers a 2-on-1 rush, David Moss hustled back to tie up Ales Kotalik who failed to get a shot at an open net.

Calgary got some insurance at 16:35 of the third when Dawes and Rene Bourque worked the puck back and forth. Bourque then fired a shot past Valiquette to make it 3-1.

New York tied it 1-1 at 17:16 of the first. Girardi flung a wrist shot from the blue line that got past Kiprusoff, who was screened.

Calgary opened the scoring at 3:56 of the first period when Pardy's wrist shot from the blue line went through a maze of bodies and past Valiquette.

Drury was lost for the night after being hit by Glencross. He was struck away from the puck and immediately dropped to the ice. He was down for a couple of minutes before being helped to the dressing room.

It was the first meeting between Rangers forward Sean Avery and Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf since last December when Avery, then with the Dallas Stars, was suspended for making controversial remarks about Phaneuf's girlfriend Elisha Cuthbert. Avery had previously dated Cuthbert

The matchup was mostly a nonevent with the two rarely on the ice together through the first two periods. Early in the third, they collided behind the net and then later in that shift, Phaneuf knocked Avery flying to the ice with a clean open-ice hit.

NOTES: Calgary entered the night last in the NHL in power-play chances (46). The Rangers were number one in times short-handed (79). The Flames were 1 for 3. New York went 0-for-3. ... Calgary has scored first in 12 of 15 games (8-3-1). ... Craig Conroy has gone yet to score in 15 games, the lone Flames forward without a goal. ... Kiprusoff has gone 38 games since his last shutout on Feb. 12, 2009. ... Kotalik entered the night tied for the league lead in power-play points (12). He is a team-worst minus-6 and has just three points at even strength.

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Nov 08, 2009 - 02:47 a.m. EDT

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