Iginla lifts Flames over Canucks in shootout

Hockey Betting Lines

02/12/2012 - Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Stymied late in regulation, Jarome Iginla made good on his opportunity in the shootout, netting the decisive goal to lift the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at the Saddledome.

Iginla was robbed by the glove of Roberto Luongo on a breakaway with 2:06 remaining in the third period, but the Calgary captain converted in the third round of the penalty-shot tiebreaker, scoring on a backhand-forehand deke.

Miikka Kiprusoff, who made 29 saves, turned away Mason Raymond's bid to assure the extra point for the Flames.

"It certainly wasn't pretty at times, but we battled for everything in that hockey game and deserved the two points," said Flames associate coach Craig Hartsburg.

Calgary notched its first home win over Vancouver since October 16, 2009. The Flames had dropped five straight at home to their Northwest Division rivals.

Luongo finished with only 16 saves for the Canucks, who were looking to sweep a four-game road trip.

"I thought we played a really good game tonight from start to finish. This was probably our best game of the road trip and we lost," said Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault.

Vancouver is all too familiar with the shootout as six of its last nine games have been decided beyond overtime.

Calgary jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Mike Cammalleri and Roman Horak, with the latter lighting the lamp at the 2:41 mark of the second period.

But the Canucks rallied, beginning with Cody Hodgson banging home a rebound late in the middle stanza. David Booth pulled the visitors even at 8:04 of the third.

Game Notes

The Flames improved to 3-0-2 in February...Vancouver had its road winning streak snapped at five games...The teams entered play with identical 12-3-0 records within the division.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.