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 The 29-year-old netminder just wanted to make enough saves to help
the Flames beat the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Scotiabank Saddledome
on Tuesday.
Looking for his second straight shutout, Ramo gave up a late goal to
Lightning center Steven Stamkos with 1:39 left in the third period,
but he still finished with 30 saves to backstop the Flames to a 3-1
win over the Lightning.
"I'd rather take the win," said Ramo, who still established a
career-high shutout sequence of 152:55 which is short of the
franchise record of 164:40 that Mike Vernon set in December of 1992.
"I don't really worry too much about (the shutout). Giving up a goal
late is never good, but we battled through it and got the empty
netter. It's a huge win."
Calgary coach Bob Hartley commended Ramo for his recent string of
solid goaltending.
"He's been unbelievable," said Hartley. "He's been great and he
gives us some great saves at the right time and that's what you need
from a goalie. He's probably one of the best goalies in the league
right now."
Stamkos was disappointed that the Lightning didn't make things tough
enough on Ramo.
"I'm not taking anything away from him, but I don't think we tested
him enough," said Stamkos. "I don't think we had enough quality
chances. He did make some nice saves, but we're a group that should
have some more quality chances than that and we didn't do that
tonight."
Centers Matt Stajan and Lance Bouma and right winger David Jones
scored for the Flames (19-18-2), who vaulted over three teams and
into third place in the Pacific Division.
"That's where we want to be but we know there's still more than half
a season here," said Stajan of the Flames moving into a playoff spot
for the time being. "We want start moving up, giving ourselves a
cushion."
Goalie Ben Bishop made 21 saves for the Lightning (19-17-4), who
have gone 3-4-1 in their past eight games.
"It's about 60 minutes, it has been the whole year," said Lightning
defenseman Anton Stralman. "It's there sometimes, but most times
it's not. That doesn't cut it. Teams are too good. We're not that
good of a team that can play for 40 (minutes) and just roll with
it."
Stajan scored to put the Flames up 1-0 at 3:56 of the first period
when he backhanded a cross-crease pass from defenseman Mark Giordano
past Bishop.
"He did a great job getting it across to me," said Stajan. "For me,
I was just trying to make sure to get it through. I'll take it.
That's a nice gift from Gio. I owe him a dinner or something for
that one."
A short time later, Bishop had to be sharp to make a pad save on a
point shot by defenseman Dennis Wideman.
[to top of second column] |
At the other end of the ice, Ramo kicked out his right pad to stop a
shot from in close off the stick of Lightning defenseman Victor
Hedman
Despite the fact that Tampa Bay outshot Calgary 14-7 in the second
period, the Flames took a 2-0 lead when Jones redirected a pass from
Giordano into the top corner behind Bishop with 4:30 to play before
the second intermission.
"I didn't know if I was going to get another one this year," said
Jones, who snapped an 18-game goalless drought. "It was a great
play. When our D are jumping down like that, it just makes
everything for us."
Ramo received some help to keep his shut-out string alive from
defenseman TJ Brodie five minutes into the third period. Brodie
cleared a loose puck off the goal line after Ramo made the initial
save to stop a scoring attempt by Lightning forward Valtteri
Filppula.
After Stamkos got the Lightning on the board, Bouma rounded out the
scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:02 of the third period.
"It's frustrating," said Stamkos after the loss. "No one's feeling
sorry for us right now. We can't sit here and pout. We've got to do
something about it."
Lightning forward Ryan Callahan left the game late in the second
period with a lower-body injury and did not return.
NOTES: Lightning C Tyler Johnson played in his 200th career NHL
game. ... RW Jiri Hudler logged only 5:26 of ice time Saturday
during Calgary's 4-0 road win over the Colorado Avalanche because of
a lower-body injury that also kept him out Tuesday. He was replaced
in the lineup by Mason Raymond, who plays both right and left wing.
... Calgary's other scratches were LW Brandon Bollig and D Deryk
Engelland, while Tampa Bay scratched RW Erik Condra and D Matthew
Carle. ... Linesman Mike Cvik, a Calgary native, worked his 1,868th
and final NHL game Tuesday.
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