Wild Fire: Iginla, Flames Incinerate Minnesota

Jarome Iginla demonstrated why he wears the captain’s C on Sunday as he scored a hat trick and dominated action in all three zones (Steve Victoria/Flickr).

ST.PAUL, Minn.-Calgary captain Jarome Iginla’s consummate performance propelled the Flames to a 5-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild Sunday at the Xcel Energy Center.

Iginla scored three goals, including two power-play tallies, and added an assist, six shots on goal and three hits en route to a +3 rating.  Beyond his statistical contributions, Iginla’s intensity, physical play and defensive instincts elevated the play of his teammates

“That’s got to be the most impressive thing about a player like that — there’s other guys that can go out and score hat tricks, but I guarantee that those aren’t the guys backchecking and playing physical,” Steve Staios told the Calgary Herald.

The trend was not the Wild’s friend Sunday. Iginla, the all-time leader in goals against Minnesota, had not scored against Minnesota since nearly two years ago when he recorded another hat trick against the Wild.  The Calgary power play–the second least productive in the NHL–struck twice in five attempts. Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom surrendered as many goals in three minutes as he had in three meetings with Calgary so far this season, giving the Flames a 2-0 lead they not relinquish.

One by-the-numbers gamble that paid off was Brent Sutter’s decision to start Vesa Toskala over Miikka Kiprusoff.  Kiprusoff had been winless against Minnesota this season while Toskala owned 3-0-1 record with a 1.31 GAA and a .942 save percentage against the Wild.

Toskala negated 27 of 29 attempts on net and the Flames never trailed Sunday in his first appearance in over a month.

“It’s got to be some pressure, for sure,” Jarome Iginla told the Associated Press. “Hasn’t played in a month. New team. Right in the heart of a playoff race. Against somebody who’s trying to catch us. Definitely pressure on him, but he looked great.”

The Flames started fast as on their first possession of the game Matt Stajan turned the puck back for Staios, whose wide blast from the right point was deflected past a helpless Backstrom by Rene Bourque.

Staios’s assist was his 200^th career point and his first as a Flame. Bourque’s goal was the first of four points for the winger, who skated with Iginla and Stajan.

Minnesota nearly responded when their emerging young star Guillaume Latendresse drifted in on net following a missed hit in transition by Mark Giordano on setup man Andrew Ebbett. With wide eyes, Latendresse wound his stick back only to have it lifted by a backchecking Iginla.

The Flames responded with a rush of their own as Bourque’s drop pass sent Iginla through the neutral zone with speed. Iginla hit a trailing Giordano who jumped into the left wing position to lift the biscuit over Backstrom and into the net.

Minnesota nearly got on the board when a tic-tac-toe play culminated in a deft dish from Martin Havlat to Latendresse, who deflected the puck just wide of half-open net. Latendresse had no fewer than three chances from point-blank range in the period but failed each time to direct the puck into the net.

The Wild buzzed in the early going of the second stanza, but Toskala nullified their efforts. He glided across the crease to make a stunning pad save on Marek Zidlicky’s cannon blast from the point. A sprawling Toskala stopped a stuff attempt on the rebound and then lifted his glove to erase a third effort.

“I just threw my leg out there. Thank god he didn’t go high, because I only had my pad there,” Toskala told the Calgary Herald.

Minnesota peppered the net including one shot that rang the post during a power play.  In total, Toskala made six saves during the Minnesota man advantage and he remained unusually sharp for a goalie that shook off cobwebs from a long layoff.

“Goaltending is such a tough position that, if you’re off for a little while, you think that you’d be a little erratic. But he showed a great deal of composure,” Staios told the Calgary Herald.

For the second straight game, a play left Staios shook up when a puck nailed him in the ribs.  As in the New Jersey game when he went face first into the boards, Staios did not miss a shift.

Soon after, Backstrom made a diving glove save on Curtis Glencross that seemed to swing the momentum Minnesota’s way.

The next goal would be theirs as the Wild cashed in on a puck that hopped over Jay Bouwmeester’s stick. Shane Hnidy sent Minnesota the other way with a breakout pass for Martin Havlat who made a patient pass to the trailing Latendresse.  Caught in a partial change, the Flames had no recourse as Latendresse cruised in on the net to score on his backhand.

Mikko Koivu put in a strong bid for the equalizer when he dangled his way across the back of the net and hit Antti Mietinen for a one-time shot that was stopped by the pads of Toskala.

A strong scoring chance from Iginla to Staios off the rush led to a delay of game minor against Brent Burns after he hastily cleared the biscuit over the boards.

Iginla was denied on Calgary’s first trip up ice but the second rush a man up led to what would stand as the game-winning goal.

Iginla fired a shot from the right point that was blocked but he let another heavy shot go from the high slot that beat Backstrom cleanly.  Stajan and defender Nick Schultz effectively screened Backstrom as the shot skidded in low to the short side.

Minnesota responded with sustained pressure and returned to the power play. A Burns stretch pass found Latendresse all alone behind the defense and the crafty young forward snapped the puck home deliberately low to the near side.

The Flames have been committed to recapturing their firm play with late leads and a 3-2 second-intermission lead over a team chasing them in the standings was just the opportunity to do so.

“This is playoff hockey for us and we have to know how to play with the lead in the third period,” assistant coach Dave Lowry told Rogers Sportsnet.

Both teams have had their share of tight games, as coming into the contest Calgary had played in 34 one-goal games and Minnesota had played in 35.

Early on, a Greg Zanon point shot bounced, floundered and skipped like a worn-out SuperBall toward Toskala.  With a man from each team in his blender ready to collide with him, Toskala confidently gloved the puck off an awkward hop and squeezed for a freeze.

After a Minnesota power-play chance fell by the wayside, the Flames took control of the contest.

A Robyn Regehr pass on the breakout sprung Iginla for a breakaway but his rising wrister was met by the glove of Backstrom who held his team in the game following a rough start.

Iginla made a strong physical play against multiple defenders and initiated contact all over the ice.  The Flames drew two more penalties and scored a timely goal with time running out on their 5-on-3 advantage.

Stajan won an offensive-zone draw back to Mark Giordano whose D-to-D, one-time feed to Iginla led to the captain draining a shot over Backstrom’s shoulder.

“I don’t know if there’s a goalie in the league that would’ve stopped that one,” Zanon told the AP.

Iginla added an empty-net goal to cap off a hat trick–the tenth of his career–and his seventh multi-goal game of this campaign.

“He was shooting the puck so hard tonight I don’t think the goalie had much of a chance,” linemate Rene Bourque, who assisted on two of Iginla’s goals along with Giordano’s marker, told the Calgary Herald.

Calgary next faces the Detroit Red Wings in a critical four-point game between two Western Conference powers who find themselves jockeying for the final playoff spot this season.

The Flames expect Kiprusoff to start and look forward to more inspirational play from Iginla.

Steadfast Staios, a recent arrival from rival Edmonton, already appreciates the play of his new teammate.

“He’s got the grit and leadership and all the intangibles of a great hockey player,” Staios told the Calgary Herald. “Then he has an incredibly high offensive skill level, too. It’s nice to be on this side of it, that’s for sure.”

Posted by Andrew Knoll on Mar 10 2010. Filed under Calgary Flames, Minnesota Wild, Northwest, Western Conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.