Martin Brodeur and Jarome Iginla figure to both be members of the Hall of Fame following the end of their outstanding NHL careers. But for 2011-12, the goal for the two veterans is simply getting back to the postseason.
Iginla's Calgary Flames hope to move up the Western Conference ladder with a seventh straight home victory this evening against the Brodeur-led New Jersey Devils, owners of points in five of their past six.
The Flames come into tonight's meeting five points back of a playoff spot in the West. They have missed out on the playoffs in each of the past two seasons after making four straight trips.
The Devils, meanwhile, are sixth in the Eastern Conference as they look to return to the playoffs after having a string of 13 straight appearances halted a season ago.
Calgary is hoping to use a four-game homestand to make a move in the West. The Flames opened up the stand with a 3-1 victory over the Wild on Saturday, a win that featured the 500th career goal from Iginla.
Iginla became the 42nd player in league history to reach the milestone when his pass attempt hit off a Minnesota skater and into the net. The goal came on the same night that teammate Lance Bouma netted his first career tally.
"That accomplishment is an individual accomplishment, but it's also about him having strong teammates and playing for a first class organization -- a lot of things are involved in it," Flames coach Brent Sutter said of Iginla's 500th goal. "To see a guy score his 500th goal and to see a guy score his first goal, [this game's] got a neat story to it."
Curtis Glencross added his team-leading 17th goal of the season -- one more than Iginla -- and Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves as Calgary snapped a five- game slide and improved to 11-5-2 as the host this year. That is against just an 8-14-3 mark on the road.
The Devils are 5-1-1 in their last seven on the road and kicked off a four- game swing on Saturday with a 3-1 win at Pittsburgh. Brodeur continued his recent surge with 41 saves to secure the 637th win of his career.
Adam Henrique scored New Jersey's league-leading ninth shorthanded goal and Dainius Zubrus lit the lamp on his club's lone power-play chance. The Devils also stopped the Penguins on their two man advantages and are killing off penalties at a 91.2-percent clip.
"When you play in a building like this you need everything to go right," said New Jersey head coach Peter DeBoer. "Marty came up with the stops and our special teams were huge tonight."
Ilya Kovalchuk and Henrique each ended with a goal and an assist for the Devils, who have won their past two and are 4-1-1 in the last six.
The Devils have won three of their past four versus the Flames, taking a 2-1 shootout win at home in the lone meeting last year on Kovalchuk's game-winner in the tiebreaker.
New Jersey was bested 5-3 in its last trip to Calgary on March 5, 2010.
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