Predators Edge Flames 4-3

It was a sweet goal for defenseman Joel Bouchard and a sweet victory for the Nashville Predators.

Bouchard, who was picked up by the Predators last June 26 when Calgary didn't protect him in the NHL expansion draft, scored 5:15 into the third period to help Nashville gain a 4-3 victory over his former team.

Bouchard's goal tied the game at 3 and set the stage for Tom Fitzgerald's clincher five minutes later.

"Let's face it, it hurt my pride when they didn't play me much last year and they left me unprotected," said Bouchard, who had missed the last 11 games with an ankle injury. "It's just nice to beat them, and of course to score a goal is fun."

Bouchard fired a slap shot from the left point that beat Calgary goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

"I just told Cliff Ronning to give it to me," Bouchard said. "I just had a feeling. Trust me, I don't have the best shot on the team. It's a pretty average shot, and it turned out good."

Fitzgerald fired a high shot from the slot off a pass from behind the net by Vitali Yachmenev, to climax a string of three straight Predators goals.

"When Joel scored, that sure gave the bench a bit of a boost," Fitzgerald said.

The Predators snapped a two-game losing streak, while the Flames' skid reached four games.

The Nashville rally from a 3-1 deficit began with a power-play goal by Ville Peltonen with 34 seconds left in the second period, Peltonen's fifth goal in 10 games.

"We haven't played well in the third period and it's cost us," Calgary defenseman Phil Housley said. "We're trying to be fancy. We're trying to do too much because we think we're going to walk away with the game."

Calgary's Jarome Iginla and Jeff Shantz had scored in a span of 1:07 of the second period to make it 3-1. Iginla scored from in close at 14:56, putting the rebound of his own shot past Nashville goaltender Mike Dunham for his seventh goal. Shantz, Iginla's linemate, connected on a short shot at the rigt post .

The teams exchanged goals earlier in the second period after a scoreless first. Calgary's Ed Ward put a long wrist shot by Dunham's stick, moments after Giguere had robbed Patric Kjellberg on a breakaway.

Dunham tied his career high with his eighth win, and he did it just 20 games into the season.

"Tonight, I wasn't on top of my game," he said. "It just felt like a weird game for me, I just wasn't comfortable. But we outplayed the other team and we held on."

Yachmenev's first Predators goal tied the game early. He stickhandled around Giguere and scored on a backhander.

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