Iginla's Two Goals Burn Wings

Goaltender Fred Brathwaite continued his storybook return to the NHL on Tuesday night.

Brathwaite made his sixth consecutive start since he signed with Calgary 12 days ago and stopped 36 shots saves as the Flames downed the Detroit Red Wings 3-1. Jarome Iginla scored twice for Calgary.

"Winning is always great, but beating a team like Detroit, which is so skilled, ranks right up there," said Brathwaite, whose previous NHL stint was with Edmonton from 1993 to '96. "With Steve Yzerman, (Sergei) Fedorov, (Brendan) Shanahan ... I could go down the list. Those guys are the premier players in the league."

Iginla broke a 1-1 tie 4:20 into the third period when he fired a rebound from a Jeff Shantz shot past goaltender Norm Maracle. It was the 18th goal of the season for Iginla, who left the game with a broken nose when he got hit in the face with the puck late in the third.

Iginla, who scored 21 goals in his rookie campaign, slumped to 13 goals in 70 games last season.

"Jarome has a lot of things to learn," said Flames coach Brian Sutter. "Taking advantage of goal-scoring chances is one of them, and he did that tonight."

Andrew Cassels also scored for the Flames, who won the season series against Detroit 3-1.

Darren McCarty scored for the Red Wings, who return home from a 0-2-1 Western road trip.

"We played pretty good defensively, but when you're always coming from behind, the defense isn't much good to you at that point," said Detroit coach Scotty Bowman.

Brathwaite was sharp throughout the game. He thwarted Yzerman three times on close-in chances in the first 40 minutes.

Two weeks ago, Brathwaite was playing goal for he Canadian national team. Now, he leads the NHL with a 1.65 goals-against average and .947 save percentage in just over 300 minutes of action.

It's only been six games, but Brathwaite - Calgary's sixth goaltender of the season - has emerged as a fan favorite. After stopping Fedorov on a dangerous rush with the score tied early in the third, the crowd began chants of "Freddie, Freddie."

"That makes me feel pretty good, but I'd rather they do that at the end of the game, when they wouldn't have a chance at scoring," Brathwaite said with a smile. "Calgary's been great for me, especially coming from Edmonton where they used to boo me sitting on the bench."

Brathwaite's best stop came late in the second when he made a glove stab off a slapshot by Shanahan headed for the top corner.

"It came down to them scoring on their chances and their goalie making some great saves," said Shanahan, who is without a goal in his last 13 games after scoring 17 in his first 32.

Detroit opened the scoring on a power play 7:26 into the first period when Yzerman's centering pass deflected off McCarty's Skate and over the goal line.

The lead lasted just 24 seconds before Iginla tied it by one-timing a pass by Theoren Fleury over Maracle's shoulder.

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