SAN JOSE, California, 19 May 2004 — Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff set a team record with his fourth playoff shutout as Calgary moved within one win of the Stanley Cup finals with a 3-0 blanking of San Jose on Monday.
Kiprusoff surrendered four goals on 16 shots and was pulled after two periods in Game Four, a 4-2 home loss.
“We bounce back when we lose. I think that’s the biggest thing,” Kiprusoff said.
He took the ice just over 24 hours later, survived a couple of early near-misses and made 19 saves to break Mike Vernon’s 1989 club mark for playoff shutouts.
As they did in their first two trips to San Jose, the Flames grabbed a 2-0 lead.
“It’s never fun to get pulled out,” Kiprusoff said. “When they pulled me, I was already thinking forward to this game. I think it’s also like how the whole team plays.”
While killing a penalty six minutes into the opening period, Calgary’s Jerome Iginla picked off a pass by Vincent Damphousse in his own zone and skated in ahead of the defense on his backhand. Evgeni Nabokov made a lunging attempt at a poke check. Iginla, of Canada, wanted to deke but instead slid the puck past the goaltender for his league-leading ninth playoff goal and first shorthanded tally.
“I got pretty lucky,” Iginla said. “He stacked the pads and it snuck just under his pads there. It was awesome to see that cross the line.”
Just over two minutes later, Sharks nemesis Ville Nieminen shrugged off a hook by San Jose’s Niko Dimitrakos that drew a delayed penalty.
Finland’s Nieminen pulled up at the top of the right faceoff circle and whipped a pass to Marcus Nilson, who blasted a one-timer from the top of the slot past a screened Nabokov.
Calgary’s Craig Conroy padded the lead in the second period for the Flames, who can clinch their first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals since 1989 with a win at home on Wednesday.
That’s easier said than done in a series in which the visiting team has won the first five games for just the third time in NHL history.
“It’s definitely different and I can’t put my finger on it, I don’t think anybody can,” Iginla said. “I know that we love playing at home.”
Nabokov stopped 18 shots for the Sharks, who have lost four straight home games for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. “Where that performance came from, I really have no idea,” San Jose coach Ron Wilson said.
Hall of Famer Dryden to Run for Federal Office
In Toronto, after spending seven years as an executive with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ken Dryden is running for federal office.
The team announced on Monday that Dryden is stepping down from his position as vice chairman to pursue a federal seat in Canada’s House of Commons.
A Hall of Fame goaltender and a six-time Stanley Cup champion with the Montreal Canadiens, Dryden joined the Maple Leafs as president in May 1997.
He added the additional duties of general manager that summer before assigning the position in July 1999 to coach Pat Quinn.
In July 2003, Dryden was named vice chairman of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Limited and a member of the team’s board of directors.
A graduate of Cornell University in 1969, Dryden completed law school at McGill University while playing for the Canadiens.
