Iginla Has Hat Trick in Flames' Win

[March 24, 2008]  CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Jarome Iginla notched his seventh NHL hat trick, and the Calgary Flames beat the Minnesota Wild 5-4 in a key Northwest Division clash on Saturday night.

The Flames captain tied it 2-2 with 23 seconds left in the second period, put the Flames ahead 50 seconds into the third, and scored his 48th of the season at 6:47.

Minnesota got a pair of goals later in the period from defenseman Kim Johnsson but Matthew Lombardi's goal in-between proved to be the difference for the Flames.

Calgary moved within one point of the Wild, who lead the division.

Iginla's third goal came when he wristed a rebound past goalie Josh Harding after Dion Phaneuf's shot from the blue line hit a crowd in front.

The game was delayed for a few minutes as the numerous hats that showered down onto the ice were collected. Shortly after the game resumed, the sold-out crowd broke into chants of "MVP, MVP" in salute to Iginla.

Phaneuf also scored for Calgary, 6-0-2 at home in its last eight.

Benoit Pouliot scored his first two NHL goals for Minnesota, which lost in regulation for the first time in eight games (3-1-4).

Iginla's first of the night came just 1:13 after Pouliot's second goal gave Minnesota its first lead of the game.

Pouliot had tied it 1-1 at 13:12 of the second. Breaking in on a 2-on-1 with Brian Rolston, Pouliot's attempted pass across deflected off the skate of defenseman Cory Sarich and squeaked between the pads of Miikka Kiprusoff.

Calgary took a 1-0 lead three minutes into the second on a highlight-reel, short-handed effort by Phaneuf.

Picking up a loose puck deep in his own end, Phaneuf weaved his way up ice. As Phaneuf went around Brent Burns and moved toward the net, he moved with just his right hand on his stick. He managed to flip the puck over Josh Harding's pad before sliding into the end boards.

Kiprusoff made 29 saves for Calgary.

With Niklas Backstrom getting the night off, Harding made 26 stops in his first action in eight games.

Notes: Minnesota RW Mark Parrish was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. ... It was Phaneuf's first NHL short-handed goal. ... Minnesota wrapped up the last of 15 back-to-back games with a record of 9-4-2 in the second game. They were 9-5-1 in the first. ... After getting a season-low 6:03 of ice time Thursday against Colorado, Calgary LW Kristian Huselius played just 6:32.

[Associated Press]

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