Bruins Extinguish Flames
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Milan Lucic scored two goals and Tim Thomas made 28 saves as the Boston Bruins beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Brad Marchand had the other goal for the Bruins. Curtis Glencross had the Flames' lone tally.
Marchand made it 2-0 for Boston at 5:55 of the third period. Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff kicked out Patrice Bergeron's shot from the wing straight to Marchand, who put his 19th goal into the open net.
After Glencross broke Thomas' shutout bid with 2:33 left off a nice pass from Jarome Iginla on a power play, Lucic clinched the win with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
Thomas played for the first time in a week after getting a two-game rest from Bruins coach Claude Julien. The 36-year-old goalie came in having lost consecutive games for the first time this season.
Against the surging Flames, 11-1-2 in their previous 14, Thomas was back in the form that has him ranked No. 1 in the NHL in goals-against-average (2.02) and save percentage (.938).
Boston (34-19-7) took a 1-0 lead less than a minute in on a pretty setup from David Krejci.
Skating down the wing, Krejci faked a slap shot and sent a hard pass across the slot to Lucic, who neatly steered his 25th goal behind Kiprusoff before bowling him over.
Thomas was the busiest of the goalies in the first period, turning aside numerous Flames chances, but his best stops came in the third.
With the Bruins still up 1-0 two minutes in, Thomas slid across to deny Iginla after the Flames captain and Alex Tanguay worked a perfect give-and-go in the slot.
Later in the period, Thomas threw out an arm to get a piece of Cory Sarich's point shot that then went off the post.
Thomas also got some help from his defense. Tanguay was about to shoot on a second-period breakaway when he had his stick lifted from behind by the long reach of 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara.
Calgary lost in regulation at home for the first time in 10 games (7-1-2). With 70 points, the Flames remain in a playoff spot in the Western Conference, but are just two points up on a pack of teams at 68 points.
Glencross extended his point streak to eight games (seven goals, five assists). Kiprusoff finished with 26 saves.
The Northeast Division-leading Bruins pulled into a tie for second place in the Eastern Conference with the idle Tampa Bay Lightning.
Boston, the NHL's third-best road team, is 3-0 halfway through its season-high six-game trip.
(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
