Flames Let Off the Hook At GM Place

On a night which looked like the Canucks could have taken complete control of things on home ice, they allowed their opponents from Calgary to capitalize on turnovers and skate away with a 4-3 win in Vancouver.

They had a solid start to the game, building up a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes of play. Darcy Hordichuk opened the scoring at the 5:33 mark converting on a rebound kicked out by goalie Mikka Kiprusoff. Alexander Edler and Jannik Hansen picked up the assists on the first goal in a Canucks uniform for Hordichuk.

A short time later, the Flames got on the scoreboard while working a power play. Mike Cammalleri fired a pass from the corner of the Canucks zone towards the crease. The puck wound up deflecting off the skate of Sami Salo and behind netminder Curtis Sanford. Damond Langkow gets credit for the lone assist on Cammalleri's 100th career goal. It was also his 7th of the season at 8:11.

Vancouver restored a one-goal lead on a beautiful finish by Daniel Sedin. The play started in the Canucks zone as Mike Brown chipped the puck up ice for Henrik Sedin. After receiving a pass from his brother down the right side, Daniel drove to the net and beat Kiprusoff with a beautiful shot high to the short side. Daniel's 11th of the season extended his point scoring streak to seven games (6g,4a). The assist was Henrik's 400th career NHL point and it came at 11:41.

The Canucks had a golden opportunity to blow the game open in the second period was they worked a 5-on-3 power play for nearly a full minute. However Daniel missed two glorious chances in close while Mason Raymond was robbed on a big stop made by Calgary d-man Cory Sarich. A few shifts later, Hansen nearly gave Vancouver the lead as he broke free behind the Flames defence, but his move to the back hand was denied on a great pad save by Kiprusoff.

With less than three minutes to go in the period, the Flames got their all-important equalizer. With a penalty about to be called against the Canucks, Jarome Iginla fed a great cross zone pass to a wide open Cammalleri in the right face off circle. He made no mistake drilling home the one-timer for his second of the game. Matthew Lombardi tallied the other assist 17:01.

It didn't take long into the final frame for the Flames to get their first lead of the night. Good work by Iginla and Lombardi on the end boards allowed the puck to find Cammalleri in the left face off circle. His one-timer beat Sanford to give Cammalleri his first career NHL hat-trick at 1:18.

Exactly ten minutes later, the Canucks pulled level on a 2-on-1 rush. Kyle Wellwood skated up the right wing and dished a great pass to Raymond, who burried his chance. For Raymond, it was his 6th of the season and it broke a 9-game goal-scoring drought. Taylor Pyatt chipped in the other helper to get his second point in as many games.

The eventual game-winning goal came on a giveaway by Edler. After coughing the puck up the middle, he saw Curtis Glencross make no mistake beating Sanford. Glencross, who extended his point scoring streak to three games (3g,3a), netted his 5th of the campaign at 13:29 to cap off the scoring in Vancouver.

The Canucks were out-shot 33-30 on the night. They have not out-shot an opponent in their last nine games. Vancouver finished the game going 0-for-4 on the power play while the Flames went 1-for-2.

Vancouver (14-7-2) and Calgary (13-9-1) will cap off their second home-and-home series of the year on Saturday night at the Pengrowth Saddledome.