Calgary Flames' Tim Jackman celebrates his goal during the first period of their NHL hockey game against the Ottawa Senators in Calgary, Alberta, February 9, 2011. REUTERS/Todd KorolTODD KOROL/Reuters
Curtis Glencross is starting to carry the surging Calgary Flames.
Glencross had a goal and an assist to help the Flames beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Wednesday night.
Glencross snapped a 2-2 tie with a breakaway goal late in the second period. Olli Jokinen sprung Glencross, who beat rookie goalie Robin Lehner with a shot to the top corner. Glencross has scored the winning goal in two straight games.
"That was the turning point," Ottawa coach Cory Clouston said of Glencross' goal. "We played a good game up to that point, for the most part. When that one went in it just really took the wind out of our sails and gave them the momentum going into the third.
"The way we are mentally and emotionally, we're very fragile, and they gained a lot of momentum off that and it killed us."
Chris Kelly and Chris Campoli scored for Ottawa (17-30-8), which led 2-1 after the first period.
Tim Jackman scored twice, Anton Babchuk had a goal and two assists, and Jokinen had a goal and an assist for Calgary, which has won eight of nine.
With Calgary trailing 2-1 after the first, Glencross said the club took time to regroup during the intermission.
"We came back here and refocused after the first period and went back out and stuck to our game plan," he said. "We got bodies and pucks to the net."
Since losing 6-0 at home to Minnesota on Jan. 19, the Flames have gone 8-0-1 to climb back into contention in the Western Conference playoff race.
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us yet," Glencross said. "If you look at the standings there's a few games in hand that other teams have on us. We've just got to keep it one game at a time and stick with our program."
Playing in his 800th NHL game, Robyn Regehr chipped in with two assists.
"It was really nice to win and to be able to contribute a little bit offensively," said Regehr, who has a goal and four assists in four games.
The Senators have lost five straight in regulation and 11 consecutive overall (0-9-2). Ottawa is 1-13-4 in its past 18 games.
"We gave them too much time and allowed them to attack us," forward Nick Foligno said. "They're a dangerous team. They've got some guys that can score, and they proved that."
Miikka Kiprusoff made his eighth straight start for the Flames and stopped 24 shots to improve to 24-18-3. Ottawa rookie Robin Lehner, in his seventh NHL game, made 30 saves in the loss.
"He's going to be a great goaltender for a long time," Foligno said. "It's unfortunate we couldn't get him that win. He played great for us."
The Flames went 3 for 5 with the man advantage and killed all three Ottawa power plays.
Thanks to an early power play, the Flames put on some great pressure but were kept off the score sheet due to several nice saves by Lehner. Shortly after stopping a shot through traffic by Jarome Iginla, Lehner stacked his pads to thwart Brendan Morrison.
Jackman opened the scoring at 8:40 of the first when the puck deflected off him and into the net after Lehner made a blocker save to stop Niklas Hagman's shot.
Just 37 seconds later, Kelly tied it when he took a pass from Jarkko Ruutu and snapped a shot to the short side past Kiprusoff.
The Senators went ahead 2-1 two minutes later when Campoli took a point shot that hit Kiprusoff before bouncing up and over the Calgary goalie.
The Flames tied it again during a second-period power play when Jokinen redirected a pass from Glencross past Lehner.
Jokinen returned the favor a short time later when he sprung Glencross on a breakaway. Glencross wired a perfect shot into the top corner over Lehner's outstretched glove.
The Flames took a 4-2 lead at 8:36 of the third when Babchuk fired a point shot past Lehner, who was screened by David Moss.
Jackman rounded out the scoring on the power play when he tapped in a loose puck behind Lehner, who stopped Iginla's original shot before it trickled past him.
Notes: Hagman returned to Calgary's lineup after missing three games with a lower body injury. ... Alex Tanguay, who three goals and six assists in Calgary's previous eight games, sat out because of a neck strain. ... With D Adam Pardy out of Calgary's lineup due to an upper body injury, Brendan Mikkelson played for the first time since Jan. 15 - a span of 10 games.