Steve Montador scored 18:43 into overtime, and Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 49 shots in the Calgary Flames' 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Sunday.
Alex Korolyuk scored with 3:21 left in regulation to force overtime for the Sharks, who set a franchise playoff record with 52 shots. But Kiprusoff, who became a star after the Sharks traded him to Calgary last November, turned aside nearly everything while winning a duel with Evgeni Nabokov, his longtime teammate.
"It's fun to be here against [the Sharks], but I don't think it makes any difference," Kiprusoff said. "It's the finals. That's enough."
Craig Conroy got two goals and Krzysztof Oliwa also scored for the Flames, who won for the fourth time in five overtime playoff games. Calgary followed its second-round upset of Detroit, which included two OT wins, by stealing home-ice advantage from the Sharks in the opener of the Flames' first trip to the conference finals since 1989.
"We've been able to steal games while they're all over us," Conroy said. "Kipper gave us a chance. We have a whole different kind of confidence with him back there."
The Sharks held Flames captain Jarome Iginla without a shot in regulation and dominated overtime, outshooting Calgary 12-5 -- but Iginla made the game-winning pass to Montador. The low-scoring, seldom-used defenseman skated untouched into the slot and beat Nabokov, who made 33 saves.
"I think the crowd was going, and I wanted to make sure that Jarome could hear me," Montador said. "I just said, `Thanks for listening.'"
Mike Ricci and Todd Harvey scored in the second period for the Sharks, who have lost two straight home playoff games after winning their first five to earn the franchise's first trip to the conference finals. Game 2 is tomorrow in San Jose.
"We've got more where that came from," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "It's disappointing to lose the game the way we did, on kind of a detail thing, a bad change. ... With 52 shots, I think we could have had 62 shots. We'll play the same way the next game, take our chances."
Both teams stuck to the strategies that propelled them into this unlikely matchup of two teams that missed the playoffs last season. San Jose rallied from 14th place in the conference last spring to the best season in franchise history, while the sixth-seeded Flames ended an eight-season playoff drought before upsetting Vancouver and Detroit.
"The bottom line is, I would bet it's easier to win the first game in this building than it would be Game 7," said Calgary coach Darryl Sutter, the Sharks' coach for five-and-a-half seasons before getting fired in December 2002.
The Sharks specialized in outstanding first-period efforts this season.
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