Iginla trade to Pens overshadows Flames' win

CALGARY, Alberta -- The Calgary Flames got a taste of life without Jarome Iginla on Wednesday night, and now they best get used to it.

After dispatching the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in an emotional contest, the Flames traded away the face of their franchise, sending Iginla to the Pittsburgh Penguins for forwards Kenneth Agostino and Ben Hanowski, two unsigned college prospects, as well as the Penguins' first-round pick in the 2013 draft.

Iginla, the Flames captain, was a healthy scratch before the start of Wednesday's game as final details of the trade were being worked out. His consecutive game streak ended at 441.

Iginla spent his entire 16-year career with the Flames, scoring 525 goals and 570 assists in 1,219 games.

Trade rumors around the 35-year-old Iginla have been swirling for weeks as the April 3 deadline approached. And then earlier Wednesday reports surfaced a deal had been made with the Boston Bruins.

Those reports proved wrong, and Iginla is off to join Sidney Crosby and company.

But maybe the Flames won't be that bad off based on their performance against the Avalanche.

Michael Cammalleri was there to pick up where Iginla left off -- at least for one night.

Cammalleri scored twice in the second period as the Flames won their eighth straight home game, but it was a strange night in Calgary, as the Saddledome crowd chanted 'Ig-gy, Ig-gy' as time winded down in the win.

"It was an inspirational game by the fellows," Cammalleri said. "I think everybody played well for one another.

"There was some emotion involved. I don't know how you exactly describe that emotion, what it is, but there was definitely an emotion involved from his absence.

"His presence, it'll be different without him."

The Avalanche lost for the seventh time in eight games, while they dropped a ninth straight road outing (0-6-3). The defeat leaves Colorado (11-17-4) four points behind the Flames (13-15-4) in the battle to avoid last place in the Western Conference.

The Avs made a furious comeback in the third period, and they managed to get within one goal thanks to Ryan O'Reilly's power-play goal on a five-on-three advantage.

But Flames backup goalie Joey MacDonald, playing in place of goalie Miikka Kiprusoff -- who is also the subject of trade speculation -- picked up his fourth win this season by holding the fort.

The visitors were done in by a rough start, as Jiri Hudler and Steve Begin staked the Flames to an early 2-0 lead.

"It's the same story every game," Avs forward Matt Duchene said. "We're getting down and making it hard on ourselves to come back. We can't play catch-up hockey.

"(The Iginla trade) should have worked in our favor, and it didn't. They were ready to play. Distractions can hurt a hockey team. Give them a lot of credit, they didn't let it affect him."

The Flames look to be busy sellers at the trade deadline despite being just four points out of a playoff spot.

The move to send Iginla to the Penguins signals the end of an era in Calgary. The Flames are now without their emotional leader, but the players will move on and try to make the playoffs.

"You prepare like you've got the greatest job in the world, which you do, and you go play the best hockey you can," Cammalleri said. "In our business, you find motivation in a lot of places. Until someone tells me we're mathematically out of it, no one in this room will feel that way."

The visitors showed some brief life early in the second period down two goals. Jamie McGinn pounced on a rebound in the slot off a P.A. Parenteau shot and buried it.

That was just the Avalanche's fifth shot of the game, but the Flames took the momentum right back.

Just 12 seconds later, Cammalleri scored the first of his pair by ripping a shot past Semyon Varlamov off a bouncing rebound in the slot.

A few minutes later, it was Colorado's turn for a fortunate bounce. Gabriel Landeskog sent the puck toward the net from the left-wing corner and MacDonald couldn't handle it and it trickled through him.

But Cammalleri restored the two-goal lead on a move that has made him a living in the NHL. Parked on the right wing, the little winger went down to one knee to rip a one-timer from a sharp angle.

Varlamov had little chance on that goal, and on Begin's first-period tally that went off defenseman Ryan O'Byrne's skate, but he didn't shut the door for his team either.

"He's part of the group that he needs to be better," Avalanche coach Joe Sacco said. "He can make some more timely saves for us at the right time. He knows that. The effort was there down the stretch and at the end in the third period. ... We let them off the hook in the first period. That's the bottom line."

The upshot of the Iginla trade is that the Flames are now firmly focused on the future. They pick up Agostino, a 20-year-old left wing who is playing for Yale, and Hanowski, a 22-year-old right wing who is playing for St. Cloud State.

"Our pro scouts feel very strongly about these players," Flames general manager Jay Feaster said at a postgame press conference. "They fit our criteria for hockey sense, and they have good skill level."

Iginla will be a free agent after the season.

NOTES: Avalanche center O'Reilly faced the Flames for the first time since signing a two-year, $10 million offer sheet with Calgary as a restricted free agent in late February. Colorado matched the offer, ending O'Reilly's contract holdout. "Obviously, I have a great deal of respect for (the Flames) and I really appreciate them seeing and believing in me that I'm the player that they thought I was," O'Reilly told reporters after Wednesday's morning skate. "It's a unique situation in that I didn't know where I was going to end up, but I just wanted to get back to playing hockey." In his first 13 games this season, O'Reilly has 13 points. ... With the Flames returning to Calgary at 2 a.m. MT after Tuesday's road loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, coach Bob Hartley canceled the morning skate and let the team sleep in. ... This was the first of back-to-back road outings for the Avalanche, who play Thursday in Vancouver. In the first night of five back-to-back outings, the Avs are 0-5. ... The Flames play host to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.