Iginla scores 50th in Flames' final game

Captain Jarome Iginla and his Calgary Flames teammates will cheer for Minnesota on the final day of the NHL regular season Sunday.

A victory by the Northwest Division-leading Wild over Colorado would give the Flames the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference and a date with Minnesota to open the Stanley Cup playoffs a team they beat six times this season.

A Wild loss would bump Calgary to seventh spot and a first-round matchup against the second-seeded San Jose Sharks, who dropped three of four games to the Flames this season.

Calgary moved ahead of the Avalanche into sixth spot Saturday night, thanks in large part to the play of Iginla, who notched his 50th goal of the season in a 7-1 waxing of the Canucks in Vancouver.

Iginla is only the second Flame to reach 50 goals twice in his career, joining Joe Nieuwendyk. Iginla scored No. 50 for the first time on April 7, 2002 against Chicago when he had 96 points.

Sitting on 49 goals for four games leading into Saturday, Iginla had to wait until 12:35 of the third period before No. 50 was in the books.

He drove the net, fighting through Canucks defenceman Luc Bourdon, and ripped an Eric Nystrom pass from the slot past netminder Curtis Sanford, who replaced Roberto Luongo to start the second period.

"It was very nice of [Flames coach] Mike [Keenan] and the guys. I was going [on the ice] about every second shift," said an appreciative Iginla. "It was a great play by Nystrom. And Tangs [Alex Tanguay] and Langs [Daymond Langkow] were trying to get [the puck] to me all night."

Iginla added two assists and moved into third place in the NHL scoring race with a career-high 98 points, trailing Washington's Alex Ovechkin (112) and Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin (106). Ovechkin and Atlanta's Ilya Kovalchuk (52) are the other players with 50 goals this season.

Iginla has been unstoppable against Minnesota this season, with seven goals and 11 points in eight games. In 43 career meetings, he has 46 points.

Nystrom with a pair, David Moss, Kristian Huselius, Dustin Boyd and Tanguay also scored for Calgary, which finished the season with a 42-30-10 record.

Former Flame Byron Ritchie had the lone Vancouver goal, his first in 45 games.

Luongo pulled from goal

Luongo was pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots in the opening 20 minutes, while Curtis Joseph kicked away 27 shots in the Calgary net.

Vancouver (39-33-10) had its playoff hopes dashed in Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers and probably is headed for a summer of change.

Top-six forwards Brendan Morrison and Markus Naslund are eligible to become unrestricted free agents July 1, while veteran centre Trevor Linden could soon announce his retirement after 19 NHL seasons, 16 of which have been spent in Vancouver.

"I need to take some time and think some things over and talk to some people," Linden told Scott Oake and Kelly Hrudey of Hockey Night in Canada. "I've always loved coming to the rink. I've enjoyed practising. I've enjoyed the nuances of the game. I enjoy looking at [game] tape.

"It's been a difficult year from a lot of different ways for our group. It's been frustrating and certainly the end was very difficult [but] I'm blessed. I feel very fortunate to be able to play in such a great city like Vancouver and be treated like the way I am here."

Linden got lots of attention

Linden, who turns 38 on April 11, was a healthy scratch for 24 games this season and finished with seven goals and 12 points playing primarily on the Canucks' fourth line.

"I said to myself before the season started that regardless of what situation I was in, I was going to come to work every day and enjoy practice, support the guys, be a good teammate. I didn't know what was going to happen," said Linden, who has 868 points in 1,382 career regular-season games.

"Not playing is difficult but at the same time, this game has been too good to me to be taking away from what the team was trying to accomplish. You adapt. Through the course of the last few years you role change and you do whatever you can to help the team."

"He's not a cheap player," Iginla said of Linden. "He's a good, honest player. He always plays hard and scores big goals. We have a lot of respect for him."

Linden saluted the Canucks faithful at General Motors Place prior to the start of the third period and after the game as his teammates signed jerseys and gave them to a select group of fans.

"For someone who doesn't like a lot of attention that was a lot of attention," Linden told HNIC. "But the people of Vancouver, the fans of this team, have treated me so well for so long. I was overwhelmed but at the same time I wasn't surprised.

"It's been a very emotional week, with the big [6-2] win against Calgary [on March 30] and then coming apart against Colorado, to not getting it done against Edmonton. I think the loss against Edmonton and the next day, that's probably the toughest thing you have to deal with."

Morrison, who missed a chunk of the season following wrist surgery and most recently a torn knee ligament, said his heart is in Vancouver but conceded the team must make adjustments in the off-season.

"This is a pretty good hockey team," he said. "I believe the team can win. I think we're a couple of pieces away from proving we can do that."