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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The Nashville Predators ran it up on the Calgary Flames.
The Predators matched their franchise record for goals in a game Saturday night, with Paul Kariya scoring two power-play goals and adding an assist in a 9-4 victory over the Flames on Saturday night.
Steve Sullivan, Scott Nichol, Martin Erat, Greg Johnson, Kimmo Timonen, Jordin Tootoo and Darcy Hordichuk also scored for the Predators. Dion Phaneuf had two power-play goals for Calgary, and Darren McCarty and Kristian Huselius added goals.
"It stinks," Calgary goalie Brian Boucher said. "Personally, it's embarrassing. I take a lot of responsibility for what happened. When a team scores four goals it should win the hockey game."
Nashville scored three power-play goals on nine attempts, and Calgary was 4-for-9 with the man advantage.
"I don't think I've ever been in a game where that many power plays goals were scored," Calgary coach Darryl Sutter said.
The Predators set the tone for the game when Sullivan scored 46 seconds into the first period. Kariya scored his first goal at 5:42 of the period when he knocked in a loose puck past Boucher.
"This was a surprise, but I tell our guys to expect the unexpected," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "We have always had a 3-1 or 2-1 sort of game with Calgary. We have a lot of respect for Calgary and how they play.
"When you come to grips with how you have to beat a team, most of the time you are going to be very successful. We knew we had to grind it out and skate. I thought we stuck to our game plan and accomplished what we wanted to do."
The Flames rallied to tie it with a pair of first-period goals. Phaneuf scored the first of his two power-play goals at 7:57 with a slap shot from just inside the blue line. With 9 seconds left in the period, McCarty scored on a power play as he emerged from traffic in front of the net to beat Tomas Vokoun.
"We talked about that being a real turnaround emotionally for Calgary," Trotz said.
Both teams found the net often in the second period, with the Predators starting it off at 3:24 on Nichol's first goal of the season. The Flames answered with Huselius' power-play goal a little less than a minute later.
Less than 30 seconds later, Erat put Nashville ahead 4-3. Phaneuf scored his second goal at 8:52 to tie it for the last time.
The Predators closed out the period with three goals. Johnson scored at 11:46 and Kariya and Timonen added power-play goals in final 3 1/2 minutes of the period.
"I thought we showed a lot of determination and focused on playing solid hockey in the second period," Trotz said. "We traded chances. We got some power play goals. We really played them welll five-on-five."
Nashville's Tootoo scored the only goal of the third period. He slid on his side and poked in the rebound of Mike Sillinger's at 13:10.
Hordichuk added the final goal of the game, flipping a loose puck over Boucher from in front of the net at 17:44.
There were a combined 25 penalties in the game, including four fighting majors, two game misconducts and one match penalty for attempting to deliberately injure a player against Calgary's Chris Simon for a hit on Nashville's Hordichuk.
Notes: The Predators also scored nine goals at Pittsburgh on March 4, 2004. ... Fifteen of Phaneuf's 17 goals have been on power plays. ... Nashville is 25-0-4 when leading after two periods. ... Vokoun won his 34th game, tying his career high set in 2003-04.
Other games on March 18, 2006
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