A Night of Firsts: Flames Foil Canucks to Lead Northwest

All season long the Vancouver Canucks have maintained an incredible stat: heading into the third period with a lead, they won every game. They took a 26-0 record (when leading after 40-minutes) and a 2-1 lead into the final frame in Calgary Tuesday night.

The Flames made it 26-1 with a 3-2 turn-around victory, becoming the first team to beat the Canucks when playing with a deficit after two periods this year.

The Vancouver Canucks would strike early, scoring two goals within twelve seconds halfway through the first period. Fantastic play from the visitors put pressure on Calgary, who toiled last night in a shut-out loss in Denver.

A lackadaisical effort from the Flames led to six first-period penalties against the home team and only seven shots on Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo. At 9:29 Marcus Naslund turned up the heat, scoring on a power-play to take the 1-0 lead.

 After twenty minutes the Canucks were indisputably the better team. Trailing by two goals, the Flames were outshot 21-7, allowing the most shots against the club in a single period this year.

Taking charge of the second period, Calgary would narrow the score 2-1 with a Jarome Iginla marker at 2:11. Despite a disappointing first period, a never-say-quit attitude prevailed and the Flames out-played the visitors for the first time in the game. Calgary stayed out of the box while the Canucks would take two late-frame penalties. The role-reversal was completed as the Flames kept the shots 18-3 in their favour in the middle stanza.

Unable to find an equaliser in the second, Calgary would find their spark with special-team play. Following seven fruitless man-advantages, the Flames would finally exploit Vancouver’s penalty problems in the third.

After killing a penalty for too many men on the ice, Canucks forward Taylor Pyatt was caught for tripping at 9:36. Buckling under the pressure of yet another strong Calgary power-play, Alex Burrows compounded the issue by drawing a delay-of-game penalty when he intentionally knocked the Vancouver net off its moorings.

That was all the chance Calgary would need.

At 10:46 Daymond Langkow recorded his 29^th goal of the year as he redirected an Alex Tanguay shot into the net with a two-man advantage. Less than a minute later and still on the power-play, Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf got the go-ahead goal on a pass from Adrian Aucoin, who recorded his 300^th NHL point with the assist. The Canucks were caught on a line change as Aucoin sent the puck to Phaneuf waiting at the Vancouver blue-line.

The 40-foot slap-shot would prove to be the game winner.

Both netminders played brilliantly, stopping a total of 74 shots between them. After allowing a soft goal early on, Miikka Kiprusoff bounced back and held Vancouver to their first period tally, later making a pair of saves early in the third to keep his team within one. Vancouver backstop Roberto Luongo gave his club every chance to win, facing a barrage of shots, penalty-kills and 5-on-3 disadvantages.

The final shot count was 40-34 in favour of Calgary.

Iginla played yet another leadership game, tallying his 49^th goal of the season. His intense play drew Vancouver into penalties, which the Flames would use to wear down the Canucks, and eventually capitalising on it in the third. The entire team responded to the result of their non-committal early effort; there may be no excuse for poor play, but there can be a remedy if the whole team works for it.

The Calgary Flames managed to play through the most difficult of circumstances tonight. Facing a Canucks squad equally desperate to gain points, the Flames completed a major turn-around to effect the win. In what must have been a punishing road game, Vancouver was out-hit 7-29 while blocking 15 shots in front of Luongo. As it stands right now, Calgary now has sole ownership of the Northwest Division lead, while the loss kept Vancouver tied with the Colorado Avalanche for 7^th place in the West.

None of the Northwest Division teams will be able to let up over the next few days, no matter how they play the night before. Calgary only lead the Minnesota Wild by one point, and the Canucks (although they now have a game in hand) have the Avalanche, Nashville Predators and possibly even the Edmonton Oilers looking to steal a playoff spot. The next few games will undoubtedly be full of more great hockey as the battle for the Northwest crown continues.

NOTES: **A possible first: Jim Vandermeer opened the night again on the left wing and paired up immediately (0:05) with Taylor Pyatt. The quick bout may be a franchise record; Vandermeer fought Ian Laperriere just nine seconds into Thursday's game against the Avalanche.  Vandermeer has recently been played on the forward lines when Mike Keenan has required extra physicality up front. Vandermeer played his first year of Junior hockey as a forward, so the position isn’t entirely alien to him, and so far he has worked the transitional role to his team’s advantage.

** Another first: Kristian Huselius was a healthy scratch, having played drastically reduced minutes in games against Minnesota and Colorado. It was the first game he has missed. Dustin Boyd filled his spot in the lineup

** Flames forward Alex Tanguay played the second-most minutes on his team with 23:46. He also came up with the helper on the tying goal.

** The Vancouver Canucks allowed the Flames two 5-on-3 opportunities. Calgary led in the face-off circle with a 58% win rate

** Flames forward Stephane Yelle recorded 8 hits in the game, playing 15:36 minutes. Canuck defenseman Willie Mitchell blocked four shots.

** Northwest Division point totals at end of play: Calgary- 90 Minnesota- 89 Colorado- 86 Vancouver- 86 Edmonton- 83