Flames 3, Wild 1
Captain Jarome Iginla became the 42nd player in NHL history to score 500 career goals as the Calgary Flames won their sixth straight home game with a 3-1 triumph over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
Moments after ripping a blast off the goal post, Iginla simply put a puck on net that was deflected off a Wild defenseman’s skate past a helpless Niklas Backstrom at 8:33 of the third period.
Iginla became the 15th player in NHL history to reach the milestone by scoring all 500 goals with one team. This season, he has 16 goals - including six in as many home games.
Rookie Lance Bouma netted his first career NHL goal and Miikka Kiprusoff made 26 saves to improve to 18-14-2 on the season. Kiprusoff is 8-0-1 in his last nine starts in Calgary. His bid for a shutout was snapped with 6:19 to play when Dany Heatley slid his 13th of the season past him on a delayed penalty man-advantage.
Curtis Glencross scored on the power play at 11:15 of the third period when he tipped in a pass from defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to put the Flames up 3-0. It was his team leading 17th of the season for Calgary, which ended a five-game winless streak (0-4-1).
Bouma broke a scoreless tie at 2:02 of the third period. Backstrom gave up a big rebound off a Lee Stempniak shot, which the rookie buried while fighting off a back-check.