Reinprecht powers Flames in shootout win vs. Canucks

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The Calgary Flames weren't happy about allowing five goals for a third straight game. The fact that it happened in a win softened the blow.

Steve Reinprecht scored two goals in regulation and another in the shootout to lift the normally stingy Flames to a wild, back-and-forth 6-5 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night.

"We ll take it," said Tony Amonte after clinching the win with a forehand deke past Alex Auld in the final round of the shootout. "We've won a lot of low-scoring games and now we've got to figure out how to win these high-scoring games. Up a goal, down a goal, it was pretty emotional."

Reinprecht scored twice in a 45-second span and set up Jarome Iginla as Calgary rallied from a pair of third-period deficits to take a 5-4 lead. But Markus Naslund scored his second goal of the game with 2:11 left to force overtime.

"We tried to play a low-scoring game but we were able to stick with it," said Reinprecht, who started the tiebreaker with a backhand shot over Auld's glove.

Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff forced Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi to shoot wide, setting up Amonte for the winning goal.

Chuck Kobasew and Chris Simon also scored for the Flames, who stayed two points behind first-place Edmonton in the Northwest Division, one behind the Canucks.

"I thought we played really well," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "It's a win on the road and two points against a high-scoring team."

Anson Carter's power-play goal gave Vancouver a 3-2 lead 1:25 into the third, but for the fourth straight game the Canucks gave it back.

Reinprecht scored at 2:35 after Auld dived out of the net to play a loose puck. He got his second of the night by redirecting Jordan Leopold's point shot past Auld after winning a faceoff back to the point.

Bryan Allen tied it at 4 with a screened point shot at 7:36, but Reinprecht's pass from out of the corner found Iginla behind the Canucks defense 29 seconds later. The Calgary captain one-timed a shot past Auld from in tight.

Jarkko Ruutu also scored for the Canucks, who have lost four straight at home after starting the season 13-1 there.

Two of the losses were in the shootout and another was in overtime, but Vancouver has blown nine leads and given up 20 goals during that stretch.

"These last few games have been pretty strange," Canucks center Brendan Morrison said. "That said we have to find a way to win."

Morrison had an up-and-down night, recording four assists but finishing minus-1. He had the puck stolen from him on Simon's goal and was in the penalty box when Reinprecht scored his second.

The Flames pulled out the victory even though they were forced to play most of the game without defenseman Rhett Warrener, who injured his right knee 36 seconds in.

They also got several big saves from Kiprusoff, who was back in goal one day after withdrawing from the Finnish Olympic team to rest a nagging hip injury.

"I'm not playing 100 percent right now," said Kiprusoff, who still finished with 32 saves in regulation and overtime. "Pretty much the only chance to take a break is [during the] Olympics and that's what I have to do because I want to be in great shape when real games start in the spring."

Game notes
Auld also made 32 saves before the shootout. ... The Canucks have lost all seven games this season against Alberta-based divisional rivals Calgary and Edmonton. ... Vancouver is 5-8-4 against the Northwest Division and 15-2-1 against the rest of the NHL. ... The teams will meet again Monday in Vancouver.