Flames Still Good at Playing Their Game

TAMPA, Fla. —  This was a crib sheet that the Tampa Bay Lightning had better study.

All the things that got the Calgary Flames to the Stanley Cup finals were on display Tuesday night. It was enough to make the 21,674 at the St. Pete Times Forum cringe and another reason for an entire nation to be sent into an it’s-our-game frenzy.

The Flames’ 4-1 victory in Game 1 made certain facts clear to the Lightning, and anyone else who wasn’t paying attention to a team that has become a Canadian national treasure. The Flames pretty much summarized their playoff run to date.

Jarome Iginla flashed the skills that have led to his coronation as hockey royalty.

Martin Gelinas was again a pest, gnawing at the psyche of opponents.

Miikka Kiprusoff continued to be that goaltender who almost looks bored, calmly stopping shots.

Those things were balled up in a typical Flame effort that burned from the moment the puck was dropped.

“That was us to a T,” Flame center Craig Conroy said. “This is what we have done throughout the playoffs.”

Only now, it is in the Stanley Cup finals.

“Yeah, you get that tingling feeling,” Conroy said. “It’s the Stanley Cup finals, we’re here in Tampa and it is hot.”

And so are the Flames, in Tampa and up north. Lightning players did what they could to point out that this wasn’t Canada versus the U.S.A. People in Canada had a different view of the situation. A handful of them were at the game waving Canadian flags.

“Before the game we could hear ‘Go Flames Go’ chants,” Iginla said. “They were pretty loud. That was great to hear.”

The Flames are the first Canadian team to reach the finals in 10 seasons and are trying to become the first to win the Stanley Cup since Montreal in 1992-93.

That has extended their fan base beyond the Red Mile, the stretch of 17th Street in Calgary where more than 30,000 fans gather after games.

“The Red Mile, that’s why we play,” Iginla said.

That road covers a lot of miles across Canada right now.

“The entire country is behind the Flames,” Gelinas said. “People from Vancouver are phoning me, from Montreal too.”

Iginla’s elevation into national stardom is based on substance, not birthright, something he demonstrated Tuesday.

The Flames were clinging to a 1-0 lead, facing the Tampa Bay power play, best among teams in the playoffs, four minutes into the second period. But Fredrik Modin couldn’t handle a pass in the slot, and Iginla was off on a breakaway.

His first shot was stopped by Nikolai Khabibulin, but the rebound flipped over the net. Iginla, who had stopped, shoveled in a second chance from behind the net for a 2-0 lead.

“I kind of got mesmerized by the puck and stopped to watch it,” Iginla said. “You usually don’t get two chances. It was nice to see that cross the line.”

Sure, from where Iginla was standing.

“If Freddy handles that, it could be 1-1, instead we’re down, 2-0,” Tampa Bay Coach John Tortorella said. “That was the turning point.”

And, as usual, it involved Iginla, who has scored or assisted on seven of the Flames’ 13 game-winning goals during the playoffs.

“The short-handed goal was the difference in the game for us,” Calgary Coach Darryl Sutter said. “You could see the way the game was going that one goal wasn’t going to be enough.”

The Flames used a little elbow grease -- not to mention their shoulders, hips and forearms -- to wear down the Lightning’s fleet skaters and produce some offense.

Gelinas was scrapping with Lightning defenseman Pavel Kubina to the left of the net when Conroy sent in a shot from the blue line. The puck ricocheted off a body on the way to the net, then found Gelinas’ right skate and trickled into the net for a 1-0 lead three minutes into the game.

That put the Flames in a familiar position, up a game on the road. Calgary has won the opening game in the last three series and has a 9-2 road record, one victory short of the most road victories during the playoffs.

“If you’re not a top-seeded team, at some point, you’re going to have to win a game on the road,” Sutter said. “We’ve talked about it being easier to win Game 1 than it is to win Game 7.”

Stephane Yelle made that Game 1 victory inevitable by clobbering Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle behind the net, then coming out with the puck and sticking a shot up high for a 3-0 lead 18:08 into the second period.

That was more than enough for Kiprusoff, who was picked up in a November trade from San Jose. He stopped 23 of 24 shots and treated this as if he were playing on a pond in Finland.

“Of course, it’s the finals, but I didn’t do anything different I have done all year,” Kiprusoff said.

Neither did the Flames.