Flames lose Kiprusoff but hold off Red Wings for 4-1 victory

DETROIT -- Jarome Iginla got his first goal of the season in a big Calgary Flames' win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, but the team's biggest concern was the health of its starting netminder.

Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, who has played in over 70 games in each of the past seven seasons, left the 4-1 win over the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena after the second period because of what the club would only say was a lower-body injury.

"He's going to be re-evaluated tomorrow. I can't tell you any more," Flames coach Bob Hartley said.

Kiprusoff made 19 saves and backup Leland Irving stopped all six shots he faced in the third period.

"In 20 minutes, those guys played great," Irving said. "I can't take too much credit for it."

Iginla, the team's captain, talked about what Kiprusoff means to the team.

"You take for granted how good he is and how consistent he is," Iginla said. "When you do see him not to be able to get back up and come back for the third period. ... He's a big part of our team."

Dennis Wideman had a goal and an assist and Curtis Glencross and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary (2-3-2). Mike Cammalleri had two assists.

"We kind of carried over from our last game (a 3-2 shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night) and did some of the same things," Iginla said. "Our power play was good tonight and our penalty kill was good."

Hartley explained further.

"(Coming into the game) we talked about how we've done so many good things and we didn't have anything to show for it," Hartley said. "We said if that was the way our team was going to play, we were going to get rewarded."

Johan Franzen supplied the goal for Detroit (4-4-1). Jimmy Howard made 19 saves.

"I thought we did some good things tonight, but we made some mistakes and they shot in our net without any question about it, so we're chasing the game," Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock said. "We had opportunities, but didn't capitalize on them. I didn't think we were terrible, but catch-up hockey is losing hockey. You can't start from behind. You've got to start from ahead."

Wideman extended the Flames' lead to 3-1 with 23.1 seconds left in the second period. He beat Howard with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line after Matt Stajan beat Pavel Datsyuk on the face-off. It was Wideman's second goal.

Franzen's power-play goal put the Red Wings on the board with 7:23 remaining in the second period. He beat Kiprussoff high glove side with a backhand shot from just under the bottom of the left circle.

It was Franzen's third goal of the season.

Howard stopped Iginla on a penalty shot with 6:48 left in the second after Jonathan Ericsson interfered with Iginla on a breakaway opportunity.

Datsyuk hit the goal post on a rebound almost a minute into the second period during a power play.

Calgary led 2-0 after the first 20 minutes.

"They came in and got two goals, they were pretty fast in the first," Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "We dug ourselves a hole and tried to dig out."

Iginla opened the scoring 3:24 into the game with his first goal of the season when he put in a rebound during a goal-mouth pile up.

"Always the first of the year, it's nice to get over. ... Every single year, you want to get that first one off your back."

Glencross got his fourth goal of the season with 9:35 left in the first period with a 5-on-3 power-play goal. He tapped in a pass from Cammalleri into the open side of the net.

NOTES: It was Jiri Hudler's first game against his former team after signing a four-year, $16 million free agent contract with Calgary during the summer. Hudler played seven seasons with the Red Wings and scored a career-high 25 goals last season. He only had a minor penalty and was even in 16:46 of ice time on Tuesday night ... Detroit defenseman Ian White returned after missing five games because of a laceration on his left leg. He was even in 18:49. ... According to a report published in the Detroit News, Datsyuk is suing a suburban Detroit man for allegedly using his name and likeness on hockey memorabilia without permission. ... Detroit center Darren Helm, who has only played one game this season due to a sore back, is expected to see a back specialist in the next day or two.