Gelinas turning into a big-goal specialist

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Miikka Kiprusoff got the Calgary Flames

into overtime. Martin Gelinas took care of things from there.

Kiprusoff made 38 saves and Gelinas scored his third

series-ending overtime goal Monday night to lift Calgary to a 1-0

victory over the Detroit Red Wings and send the sixth-seeded Flames

into the conference finals for the first time since 1989.

Reuters

---

Calgary won the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal

series in six games, capturing the final two games with 1-0

victories.

Gelinas scored 19:13 into the extra session, and Kiprusoff, who

has three shutouts in this year's playoffs, stretched his shutout

streak to 149 minutes, 11 seconds.

"It was a great team game," Gelinas said. "I'm just happy to

be in the right place. If it wasn't me, it would have been one of

my teammates."

Gelinas eliminated Vancouver when he scored in overtime in Game

7 of the first round. His only other previous playoff goal in

overtime won a series for Carolina over Toronto in 2002. He is the

first NHL player to end three playoff series with overtime goals.

This time, Gelinas got to a loose rebound in the crease and

knocked a shot past sprawled Detroit goalie Curtis Joseph. The

Flames piled off the bench and mobbed Gelinas in the corner.

"There isn't one hero," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said.

"They all did a great job."

The Presidents' Trophy-winning Red Wings played without injured

captain Steve Yzerman and veteran defenseman Chris Chelios. Yzerman

was hit in the face by a puck during Calgary's Game 5 win Saturday. Chelios missed his fourth game with either an arm or

shoulder injury.

"They had more skill, but we worked extremely hard and it paid

off," Gelinas said. "Everybody's been chipping in at different

times, and it's been fun."

Calgary beat the Red Wings in Detroit on Saturday to take a 3-2 lead in the series. Kiprusoff and Gelinas teamed up two days later to send the Flames into the Western Conference finals against San Jose or Colorado.

The Flames outshot Detroit 13-4 in the third period, and only

some fine stops by Joseph kept Calgary off the scoreboard. He

finished with 43 saves.

"There's a couple things we didn't do; we didn't score a

goal," Red Wings coach Dave Lewis said. "You can't win a hockey

game if you don't score a goal."

One of Joseph's best saves came after Flames captain Jarome Iginla went end-to-end, almost lost the puck in the Detroit zone but still got off a shot that Joseph stopped with his right leg.

Joseph also got a pad on Iginla's backhand during a power play, stopped Jordan Leopold's blast from the point, and denied Shean Donovan on a two-on-one breakaway in the game's opening minute.

"Defensively, I don't think we could play any better," Lewis

said. "Curtis, when we broke down, was probably even better than

anyone could have expected.

"Curtis can't score goals."

Early in the second period, Gelinas backhanded a shot off the

post on a breakaway.

One of Kiprusoff's best saves came in the second period when he

blocked Kris Draper's hard shot from just outside the crease.

In the third period, there was a gasp from the sellout crowd as

Kiprusoff got a piece of another shot by Draper, then watched as

the puck dribbled past the open corner of the net.

Calgary also was forced into overtime in Game 6 of its series

against Vancouver. The Flames battled back from a 4-0 deficit but

lost 5-4 in triple overtime.

They then won Game 7 in Vancouver in overtime and took the

series opener against Detroit in extra time.

Calgary thought it had scored midway through Monday's first period.

The puck went into the goal, but the net had been pushed off the

moorings. The Flames argued that Detroit's Kirk Maltby pushed the

net off on purpose. The referee disagreed but penalized Maltby for

delay of game.

Both sides dealt out some heavy hits. Calgary's Ville Nieminen,

who was suspended for one game after running over Joseph in Game 4,

rammed Maltby's head into the glass.

Detroit defenseman Derian Hatcher flattened rookie Matthew Lombardi with an elbow to the head.

The Red Wings, who have won three of the past seven Stanley Cup

titles, were swept from the opening round of last year's playoffs

by Anaheim. Detroit, which operates with a $75 million payroll,

finished this regular season with 109 points -- the most in the NHL.

Detroit beat Nashville in six games in the opening round of the

playoffs.

The Flames, who have a $36 million payroll, earned 94 points to

reach the playoffs for the first time in eight years.

Game notes

Kiprusoff allowed just seven goals in Calgary's first eight

wins during the playoffs ... Detroit D Mathieu Dandenault was cut

on the face in the first period when teammate Brendan Shanahan

stepped on him with his skate while Dandenault was down on the ice.

Dandenault was patched up and returned to the game.