CALGARY, Alberta, 31 May 2004 — Miikka Kiprusoff got the shutout and Jarome Iginla scored and had an assist as the Calgary Flames tamed the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0 on Saturday, in the first Stanley Cup game played on Canadian ice for a decade.

The Game Three victory puts the Flames in charge of the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game Four scheduled for today, also in Calgary. Not since June 1994, when the Vancouver Canucks met the New York Rangers in Game Six of the final has this hockey obsessed nation hosted a championship game, adding an extra jolt of electricity to the highly-charged atmosphere inside the Saddledome.

Having missed the playoffs the last seven seasons and without a Stanley Cup finals appearance since 1989, Calgarians embraced the moment, the red-clad crowd of 19,221, dubbed the C-of-Red, rose to its feet in a deafening din 10 minutes before the teams stepped onto the ice.

The player receiving the loudest ovation was Kiprusoff, who responded with a sparkling performance stopping all 21 shots directed at him to register his fifth shutout of the playoffs.

"Kipper is the reason we're here," said Shean Donovan, scorer of Calgary's second goal. "All season he's played great ... he made some huge saves for us. "He does what he does every game and he gives us a chance to win and obviously tonight he's the main reason we did win.

"He made some huge saves tonight and we're here because he is the best goalie in the league."

Calgary supporters had arrived at the Saddledome expecting that kind of effort from Kiprusoff, who had struggled in Game Two surrendering four goals on just 19 shots. Four other times during these playoffs, Kiprusoff had allowed four or more goals in a playoff game and on each occasion rebounded with a victory.

This postseason the popular Finnish netminder is now 7-1 with four shutouts following a loss. A scoreless first period featured thunderous hits and bone-jarring checks as the bad blood of Game Two spilled over into Game Three. Just over six minutes into the opening period, Iginla, Calgary's captain, and Tampa's Vincent Lecavalier dropped the gloves and traded punches setting the physical tone for the punishing contest.

Late in the second period the surging Flames finally made the breakthrough, Simon on a set-up from Iginla and Donovan scored just over three minutes apart to put Calgary in control.

Simon, who missed the early part of the postseason with a knee injury, sent the crowd into raptures when he flipped home his own rebound on the third attempt past Nikolai Khabibulin. Energized by Simon's goal, the Flames stepped up the pressure swarming into the Lightning end and were again rewarded, Donovan picking the top corner on Khabibulin with a laser wristshot.

Iginla would collect his 12th goal of the playoffs late in the third to close out the scoring while Kiprusoff turned aside 10 shots in the final period to clinch the win and preserve his shutout.