TAMPA. Florida (Ticker) -- It's been 3 1/2 years since the played at the St. Pete Times Forum. Theycertainly were not intimidated by the unfamiliar surroundings. Captain Jarome Iginla and Kristian Huselius each tallied hattricks and defenseman Dion Phaneuf added five assists as theFlames won a wild one over the. 9-6 onThursday. Making their first trip to Tampa since Game Seven of the 2004Stanley Cup Finals the Flames combined with the Lightning forseven goals in the first period alone - more than the total ofany game during their Finals series."It was definitely a strange game," Iginla said. "We've had alot of different ones against these guys over the years."Huselius got Calgary on the board first at 4:38 of the first,when he took a pass from Daymond Langkow along the right wingboards and skated to the middle of the ice before firing a wristshot past goaltender Johan Holmqvist for a 1-0 advantage. Vincent Lecavalier tied the game at 7:58 when he worked a2-on-1 with Vaclav Prospal before firing a one-timer pastnetminder Miikka Kiprusoff's glove side from the right faceoffcircle. The Lightning took a brief 2-1 lead 10 seconds later on toughguy Andre Roy's third goal of the season - and second in as manygames. It was the two quickest goals at home in franchisehistory for Tampa Bay. But the lead would not hold as the Flames poured in three goalsover the next five minutes to take a 4-2 advantage."I think obviously both teams are skilled offensively but Ithink for us anyways just not protecting the middle and givingthem too many scoring chances from right in front of our netand them capitalizing on them," Lightning rookie defenseman MikeLundin said."It was a fluky game lot of bouncing pucks and stuff. Wedidn't quite bear down on them maybe quite enough."Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella pulled Holmqvist after Langkow'stally with 6:55 remaining in the period capped the three-goaloutburst. Holmqvist who made just two saves on six shots wasreplaced by Marc Denis."Just right from the start the goals. (Huselius) had some greatgoals to get us a boost and to give up a two-goal lead on theroad (and still win)," Iginla said. "I thought Phaneuf was abig boost for us there."It feels good you know what anytime you win. It wasn't bythe book. Both sides were making some mistakes there were alot of bouncing pucks that were turning into 2-on-1s andbreakaways."The Lightning fought back to tie the game at 4-4 as Martin St. Louis and Prospal tallied but Huselius' third goal of the nightput the Flames ahead with 7:44 remaining in the second. Itmarked the first hat trick of the Swede's career. Tampa Bay battled to knot the contest on two more occasions butIginla - who also had an assist - took over in the finalperiod scoring three times to notch his sixth career hat trick. He now has 20 goals on the season and ranks second in theleague with 43 points."You don't like getting scored on," Phaneuf said. "That's thebottom line but sometimes those games it's the way it goes. It's just a big win for our hockey club and a character win,too. Those games aren't the easiest to play in."They're back and forth back and forth back and forth. It's amust-win game for us and we have to win games at this time ofthe year and keep taking strides to push into the playoffs."Phaneuf entered the contest with just 12 assists in 31 gamesthis season but set up five of the last eight goals of the nightfor the Flames. Lecavalier finished with a goal and two assists increasing hisNHL-leading points total to 48. St. Louis added two tallies andan assist while defenseman Shane O'Brien collected threeassists."It was just one of those nights," O'Brien said. "I gave it toguys and they put it in the net. I didn't do anything special. It was a weird night. Unfortunately we gave up nine sofigure that out. It was one of those nights you can't explain,but you've got to forget about it and move on."
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://areyouwatchingthis.com/nhl/games/51596
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|