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Red Wings 5, Flames 4, SO
Associated Press

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Two years ago when Todd Bertuzzi played with Calgary, he often practiced breakaways against Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

That work paid off on Friday night.

Brian Rafalski scored his first two goals of the season, and Bertuzzi had the only tally in the shootout as the Detroit Red Wings rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Flames.

"I played here, so I know Kip," said Bertuzzi, who spent one season with Calgary. "He knows that I like to go in tight, so I knew the poke check was coming. It was just a matter of me being quick with it and try to get it up."

After Jiri Hudler and Alex Tanguay were stopped, Bertuzzi beat Kiprusoff with a nifty deke to his backhand. Bertuzzi had spent the final 90 seconds of overtime in the penalty box.

Jimmy Howard also denied Nicklas Hagman, and on Calgary's final chance, Rene Bourque missed the net.

Asked if felt as though he was in the penalty box for a long time, Bertuzzi said, "Not really, I spent half of it yelling at (the ref) so it went by pretty quick.

"I wanted to score just because of that ref who called that penalty on me. That motivated me more than anything."

Despite the overtime power play, the Flames couldn't solve Howard, who was shaky earlier in the game. Howard's best stop in the extra session came when he scrambled across the crease to get his blocker on Jarome Iginla's shot.

"We kept ourselves in it," Rafalski said. "We gave ourselves a chance and we were able to get that fourth one, and battled through overtime. Howie made some big saves on that last power play."

Rafalski tied it 4-4 with on a harmless-looking long wrist shot at 8:16 of the third.

"We found a way to get two points on the road," he said.

Howard finished with 35 saves, including six in overtime. Darren Helm and Patrick Eaves also scored for Detroit (26-10-5).

Curtis Glencross had two goals and an assist, and Iginla and Anton Babchuk also scored for the Flames. Babchuk added two assists for his first multipoint game since being acquired in November from Carolina.

Glencross entered the game stuck in a slump with just one assist in his previous 17 games. He broke out with two goals and an assist before the game was 22 minutes old.

Trailing 4-2, Detroit began its comeback when Eaves fired Jiri Hudler's pass behind Kiprusoff with 18 seconds left in the second. The Red Wings tied it 4-4 at 8:16 of the third on a long wrist shot by Rafalski.

The defenseman's second of the night was similar to the first, a long rising wrist shot from 50 feet that Kiprusoff missed.

It was an off night for Kiprusoff, who had 23 saves.

On Glencross' opening goal at 8:43, the Flames winger didn't get much on his close-in shot but it still squeezed through Howard's pads.

Kiprusoff didn't look any better on Detroit's tying goal at 15:58. Helm's snap shot from a bad angle went in off the inside of his pad.

"I'm not pointing fingers, I'm not going to do that, but there are saves that have to be made, and they go through you," Flames coach Brent Sutter said. "We deserved two points here and we never got them."

Iginla restored Calgary's lead on a backhanded wraparound with 10 seconds left in the first.

Detroit pulled even again on Rafalski's first. He stepped over the blue line and fired a wrist shot that slightly deflected off Flames defenseman Mark Giordano and fooled Kiprusoff.

Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart left the game halfway through the third and didn't return. He got bowled over by Tom Kostopoulos beside the Red Wings net. When the training staff helped him to his feet, a giant pool of blood was left behind.

NOTES: Detroit C Valtteri Filppula (groin) didn't play. ... Calgary RW Ales Kotalik was a healthy scratch. Kotalik has one goal and no assists in 14 games. ... Rafalski played in his 800th NHL game. Kostopoulos took part in his 500th. ... Calgary RW Tim Jackman's five-game point streak (three goals, three assists) ended. ... Detroit has allowed at least three goals in 10 of 11 games.


Three star selections
1st:   CURTIS GLENCROSS
2nd:   BRIAN RAFALSKI
3rd:   ANTON BABCHUK
Winning Goaltender
Jimmy Howard

Losing Goaltender
Miikka Kiprusoff

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WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39

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