Phaneuf’s OT goal gives Flames win over Blues

ST. LOUIS (AP)—The Calgary Flames don’t mind playing a little longer to get a win.

Dion Phaneuf(notes) scored 2:50 into overtime to give the Flames a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.

Calgary has two overtime wins in two nights. The Flames beat Dallas 3-2 on Wednesday.

Phaneuf whistled a shot off the shin guard of St. Louis winger T.J. Oshie(notes) and past goalie Chris Mason(notes) for his sixth goal.

Jarome Iginla(notes) scored his team-high seventh early in the first period to get the Flames going. Miikka Kiprusoff(notes) stopped 30 shots for his eighth win of the season.

“To be able to get two of them in a row, in overtime like this, it’s a great feeling,” Ignila said. “It’s good for momentum.”

Three of the Flames’ nine wins have come in overtime. They beat Edmonton 4-3 in a shootout on Oct. 8.

“A good road trip for us,” Kiprusoff said. “To come out with four points, that’s huge. To win these close games, it’s nice.”

Phaneuf fired a shot toward the net from the high slot. It changed direction and confused Mason.

“It got tipped up high,” Mason said. “He was shooting at the other side of the net and it went in the short side.”

Phaneuf said the goal was, “a classic example of traffic. Luckily, it went in.”

St. Louis used a third-period, power-play goal by rookie Lars Eller(notes) to tie the game and a break a scoreless home-ice drought of more than eight periods. Eller, the 13th overall pick in the 2007 draft, was making his NHL debut. He deflected a shot from the point by defenseman Erik Johnson(notes) to tie it with 12:45 left in the third period.

He is the 12th St. Louis player to score in his debut. The goal snapped the Blues’ scoreless string at 171 minutes, 5 seconds. St. Louis has lost six of seven games at home, scoring only eight goals there this season—including one empty-netter.

St. Louis had failed on 26 power-play chances before Eller’s goal.

Despite the loss, St. Louis coach Andy Murray was happy to see his team finally score after back-to-back shutout losses to Phoenix on Oct. 29 and Florida two days later.

“I liked our work ethic and our level of determination,” he said. “You know it’s a tough league. You have to scrap and claw for every point you can get.”

Calgary has won eight of nine against St. Louis.

“It was probably our best road game of the year,” Calgary coach Brent Sutter. “We were certainly more patient in the way we played.”

NOTES: Calgary is 3-1 in overtime. … St. Louis and the New York Rangers are the only NHL teams that have not had a shootout this season. … The Blues have recorded at least 30 shots in three straight games. … Calgary D Jay Bouwmeester(notes) played in his 356th consecutive game, the longest streak among active players. … Oshie played for the first time since undergoing an appendectomy on Oct. 24. He missed four games. … Seventeen of the 21 skaters that dressed for the Flames have scored at least one goal this season. … Calgary D Robyn Regehr(notes) had a six-game assist streak snapped.