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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- With Fred Brathwaite in goal, the Calgary Flames feel as if they can do no wrong.
|  | | Canucks defenseman Zenith Komarniski crashes Bill Lindsay into the boards. |
Despite being outshot 27-19, the Flames relied on Brathwaite to
pull out a 2-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.
It was Brathwaite's third shutout in 10 games, a span in which he's
posted a 7-1-2 record and allowed just 11 goals.
Calgary improved to 5-1-3 over its last nine games and inched to within a point of the idle Northwest Division-leading Colorado Avalanche.
For a team that doesn't score many goals, Brathwaite's stingy play has been critical.
"He's given us a lot of confidence. We're a confident hockey
team. We don't panic too much," said Phil Housley, who sealed the
win with a power-play goal that gave the Flames a 2-0 lead 47
seconds into the third period.
Cory Stillman said Brathwaite has been remarkable of late.
"He's been great. Whatever he's doing, if he's in the zone,
keep going," said Stillman. "He gives you a lot of confidence.
The biggest thing is that when you get out there not to be afraid
to make a mistake. Lately, if you've made a mistake, Freddy's been
there to bail you out."
Brathwaite, who took over the No. 1 job after Grant Fuhr went down with a knee injury, credited the play in front of him for his success.
"This wouldn't happen unless those guys are playing well,"
said Brathwaite, who entered with a league-leading .930 save
percentage. "They're letting me see the shots. It's giving me a
chance to get on top of the crease and just making my job a lot
easier."
Derek Morris's first-period goal stood up as the game-winner as
the Flames improved to 3-0-1 against the Canucks this season.
Set up by a Martin St. Louis drop pass at the top of the
right-faceoff circle, Morris snapped a shot that beat Felix Potvin
on the short side, 12:20 into the first period.
Housley then scored his sixth goal, and first in 16 games, when he walked in from the right circle and backhanded a shot just inside the crossbar over Potvin's left shoulder.
Brathwaite did the rest in recording the fourth shutout of his career.
His biggest save came with 12 seconds left in the second period
when he made a diving poke check to knock the puck off of the stick
of Alexander Mogilny, who was coming in on a short-handed
breakaway.
He also got lucky as Mark Messier floated a shot squarely off the left post midway through the third period.
"That was a little knuckleball," Brathwaite said. "But when
things are going good, the posts are a little bit bigger."
The Canucks have had little luck of late, going 1-7-1 in nine
games. Vancouver was shut out for the first time this season.
Coach Marc Crawford said no team can afford to make mistakes
against a tight-checking and patient opponent like the Flames.
"When you give that team a two-goal lead, with as much
confidence as they're playing with away from the puck, it's going
to be difficult to penetrate," Crawford said. "In this particular
game we had to be mistake-free. And we weren't mistake-free. We
made a couple and it ended up costing us. To me that's the lesson
we take away from this game."
More worrisome is that Vancouver is now 1-7-2 against division
rivals this year.
"We'd love to have a different story, and we need to have a
different story. ... We need points. That's what's going to get us
moving up," Crawford said.
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