Lightning stumble in Calgary, begin road trip with loss to Flames
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- A resurgent Karri Ramo has the Calgary Flames climbing in the Pacific Division standings.
Ramo made 30 saves and Mark Giordano led the offense with a pair of assists as Calgary beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 on Tuesday night.
Perfect on 26 shots against Colorado on Saturday night, Ramo extended his shutout streak to a personal-best 152 minutes, 55 seconds, before Steven Stamkos picked up a carom off the end boards and scored at 18:21 of the third period.
"As a team, we're playing a lot better than the start of the year," Ramo said. "That's why we're having success. Everybody's chipping in, doing their things. It's not perfect for us, but we are doing way more good things than bad things."
Ramo, who started for the Flames on opening night, had a rough October. He was briefly assigned to the American Hockey League after going unclaimed on waivers and finished the first month of the season with an .868 save percentage.
He's improved since then, starting 25 of Calgary's last 28 games -- including the past 10 -- and getting his save percentage up to .913.
"He went down, he was not happy, he came back and right from there he started to work," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "He took advantage of (Jonas Hiller's) injury and carried the ball and right now, he's playing awesome. He's probably been one of the best goalies in the league."
Matt Stajan and David Jones had goals to help Calgary (19-8-2) pass the Anaheim Ducks for third place in the Pacific Division. Lance Bouma scored his first of the season into an empty net.
Ben Bishop made 21 saves for Tampa Bay.
Ramo got within 12 minutes of the team record for longest shutout streak of 164:40 set by Mike Vernon in December 1992.
"He's dialed in right now. He's playing really well and he gives us a lot of confidence when he's playing like that," Bouma said.
Calgary opened the scoring 3:56 into the first period on a nicely executed 3-on-2 that culminated with Giordano setting up Stajan at the side of the net.
At 15:30 of the second, Giordano intercepted the puck along the sideboards, shook off a check from Ryan Callahan and sent the puck in front for Jones to deflect into the top corner.
"Definitely something's got to change," Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. "Right now we have the talent, we have the energy. We're just not going out and executing and working hard enough. It's got to be a mindset."
The Lightning, Stanley Cup finalists last year, are outside of a playoff spot, two points back of a wild card in the Eastern Conference.
"It's frustrating but no one's feeling sorry for us right now. We can't sit here and pout," Stamkos said. "We've got to do something about it. We can't just keep saying the right things -- we've got to do it. It starts with me. I've got to be better."
Callahan left the game with a lower-body injury and did not return after his hit on Giordano.
NOTES: Linesman Mike Cvik, 53, worked his 1,868th and final NHL game. The Calgarian's debut was Oct. 8, 1987. ... Tampa Bay D Matthew Carle was a healthy scratch. ... Out of the lineup for Calgary was RW Jiri Hudler (lower body), who is undergoing medical tests. The severity of his injury was not known. ... Flames leading scorer Johnny Gaudreau has no points in his last four games.
