Carolina Hurricanes 0, Calgary Flames 1 FINAL

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Shean Donovan almost missed out on a chance to score the winning goal against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Donovan scored 1:45 into the third period, and Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 23 shots for his first shutout with Calgary, leading the Flames to a 1-0 win Thursday night.

"We knew going into the third that whoever scored was probably going to end up winning," Donovan said. "I was lucky as I was about to go off on a change, but then I saw the puck and I decided to make a mad dash for it."

Donovan, who had a six-game scoring streak snapped Tuesday in Minnesota, scored his team-leading 12th of the season.

Off a Calgary rush, Robyn Regehr's slap shot from the blue line was stopped by Kevin Weekes. Donovan beat defenseman Sean Hill to the loose puck, dived and chipped it in over Weekes' shoulder for his 10th goal in eight games.

"That was a second-effort goal," Flames coach and general manager Darryl Sutter said. "He could have let up and stopped skating there, but he went to the net."

Kiprusoff made the goal stand up, stopping 13 third-period shots to improve to 7-2-0 since joining Calgary in a trade from San Jose on Nov. 16. He faced just 10 shots in the first 40 minutes.

"These are the toughest games for goaltenders -- when you don't get a lot of work for long periods of time, but then you have to make big saves and that's what he did in the third," Sutter said. "It's a sign of a guy that's focused and on top of his game."

Kiprusoff made sharp glove saves on a shot by Niclas Wallin early in the third and rookie Eric Staal on a power play later in the period and earned his fourth career shutout.

"I knew they were going to come hard and start shooting a lot more," Kiprusoff said.

The Flames, winners of four straight at home, are unbeaten in their last five at the Pengrowth Saddledome, their longest home unbeaten stretch since a 5-0-2 run in early 2001. Calgary has just one regulation loss in its last 12 games (8-1-1-2).

Weekes made 30 saves for Carolina, which lost on the road for the eighth time in its 10 games.

"It was a great game and an entertaining game, but unfortunately we came out on the short end of it," Weekes said.

Some of Weekes' best saves came during a Calgary power play early in the first period. He stopped Jarome Iginla's slap shot from the faceoff circle and stopped another shot from close range.

Calgary center Stephane Yelle left the game in the second period with a leg injury. The extent of the injury was not immediately known. The Flames are already playing without regulars Craig Conroy (knee), Steven Reinprecht (leg) and Blair Betts (shoulder).