Bourque scores winner for Flames, who beat Ducks and move within 2 points of Red Wings

Bourque scores winner for Flames against Ducks

CALGARY, Alberta — Rene Bourque scored the winning goal on a breakaway late in the second period to lead the Calgary Flames to a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night.

The Flames pulled within two points of the eighth-place Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference playoff race.

Nigel Dawes and Niklas Hagman also scored for the Flames, and captain Jarome Iginla and defenseman Jay Bouwmeester each had a pair of assists.

Scott Niedermayer scored the lone goal of the game for the Ducks, who are nine points out of a playoff spot with just 10 games remaining.

Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 22 of 23 shots to record his 32nd win of the season. Jonas Hiller made 25 saves for Anaheim.

With Daymond Langkow out of the lineup because of a neck injury sustained Sunday at Minnesota, the Flames called up forward Brett Sutter from Abbotsford of the American Hockey League.

It didn’t take long for Sutter to make an impact. He dropped the gloves and fought Anaheim defenseman Brett Festerling two minutes into the game. Sutter knocked Festerling to the ice with a hard punch.

The Flames took a 1-0 lead on a fluky goal by Dawes during a Calgary power play at 15:11 of the first period. With Dawes driving to the slot, Steve Staios let go a shot from the point that hit the Calgary forward and bounced into the net.

Anaheim tied it at 14:27 of the second period when Niedermayer’s point shot found its way into the top corner behind Kiprusoff, who was screened by Anaheim forward Todd Marchant.

With 1:35 left in the second, Bourque scored his 23rd goal of the season when he broke in alone on Hiller and put a wrist shot through the legs of the netminder. Iginla set up the breakaway by stealing the puck from forward Corey Perry at his blue line and chipping it ahead to Bourque.

Hagman added an insurance goal early in the third when he converted a feed from Iginla for his first goal in 13 games and second in 18 games with the Flames since being acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs in a seven-player deal on Jan. 31.

NOTES: The Flames are 30-1-3 when leading after two periods and 29-11-6 record when scoring first this season. … The Ducks are 18-11-1 since Jan. 5 … Hiller has started 18 consecutive games and 29 of 30 for the Ducks.