Every franchise has events in its past that are remembered for eternity as either franchise high points or low points. A few instances capture the history of the club.
Regarding the Calgary Flames, there is a 60-second clip that solidified, for supporters and, let’s be honest, even for non-fans, exactly how amazing Jarome Iginla was in his peak. On June 3, 2004, during Game 5 of the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, Iginla played a 60-second shift that demonstrated why many players, fans, and commentators regarded him as one of the finest in the world.
The Flames thought going into their series against the heavily-favored Detroit Red Wings that they were playing with house money after they had ousted the Vancouver Canucks in the opening round.
Nevertheless, the Flames prevailed against the Red Wings in six games despite some injury concerns. After they got beyond Detroit, the team’s perspective changed.
“I can’t recall exactly what he said at our little team meeting, but it was something like, ‘Hey, we just beat the best team in the league, this is real now.'” “We can defeat anyone if we can defeat them,” blueliner Mike Commodore of the 2004 squad stated.
And I believe that was the exact moment, that very instant… This is something we could win. We already defeated the best squad, so why not us? We’re halfway there. That’s when the belief emerged, in my opinion, and we felt there was a good opportunity.
In 2004, the squad’s goalie coach, David Marcoux, stated, “This team came together as a group.” “Yes, Jarome and Miikka were present. Both the goalie and the goal scorer are essential.
However, the number of players who were seizing the chance to play the Detroit Red Wings in the second round and pushing them around in their home arena, under the direction of a task force led by Darryl Sutter.
They practically seem to be asking, “What are you guys doing?” You’re not permitted to? Are you unaware of who we are? We were essentially a group of men that came into the game with a grudge.
With their confidence high, the Flames defeated the San Jose Sharks in six games by outlasting them in the Western Conference Final series.
The Flames next faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, their third division-winning opponent, in the Stanley Cup Final. The Flames and Tampa Bay were evenly matched in the first four games, with the Flames winning 8–6.
After Tampa Bay tied Game 5 at two, Iginla discovered a whole new dimension to his game: The Shift.
Tim Taylor defeated Craig Conroy (flanked by Chris Simon and Chuck Kobasew) in a neutral zone face-off with 6:54 left in the first overtime period.
With 6:20 remaining, Tampa changed lines and dropped the ball into the Flames’ zone following a brief series of erroneous back-and-forth passes. The Flames made a switch as well, starting Iginla again alongside Marcus Nilson and Dave Lowry.
Just beyond the Tampa Bay blueline, Lowry found Iginla with an outlet pass at 6:14, giving the Flames possession of the zone, but it was guarded by three Lightning defenders. Nilson received the puck from Iginla, skated deeper into the zone, and held onto it while waiting for help.
A Robyn Regehr point shot at 6:07 zipped by Nikolai Khabibulin’s right and narrowly missed the Tampa net. After grabbing the rebound behind the net, Iginla tried to jam the puck in on Khabibulin short-side, but Khabibulin stopped him.
Iginla’s helmet was ripped off when Tampa Bay blueliner Nolan Pratt wrestled him to the ice behind the net. (Iginla would not wear a helmet for the remainder of the match.) Lowry persisted in his struggle for the loose puck underneath the goal line with several Tampa players. After the puck slid into the corner, Nilson was able to retrieve it.
Nilson’s backhand attempt at 5:48 went over the net and around the end boards, allowing Iginla to recover. At the face-off dot to Khabibulin’s left, Iginla delivered a backhand pass to Nilson at 5:43, but Martin St. Louis lifted Nilson’s stick, causing the puck to go to Jordan Leopold at the right point instead.
At 5:39, Leopold attempted a shot on goal, but Lightning defenseman Dan Boyle blocked it in the slot. Vincent Lecavalier then recovered the puck and left the Lightning zone. An tired Lowry was jumped onto the ice by Oleg Saprykin as the Flames tracked back to their own zone.
Play changed when Lecavalier tried to feed St. Louis with a pass in the neutral zone, but Regehr intercepted it at the Calgary blueline. At 5:32, Nilson was on a streak and had entered the Tampa Bay zone after Regehr passed to Iginla at center ice.
Nilson gave the puck to Regehr at the left point because he was unable to locate a path to the net. After Regehr shot the puck far, he and Leopold headed to the bench to switch places with Rhett Warrener and Andrew Ference.
With 5:27 left, Saprykin collected Regehr’s dump-in behind the net to Khabibulin’s right. At the outside of the adjacent face-off circle, he threw the puck to Nilson, who then shot a pass across the entire zone to Iginla, who was positioned close to the face-off dot on Khabibulin’s left.
(After Regehr’s dump-in, the Lightning defenders had crumbled to the net-front area, giving Iginla plenty of room to maneuver.) While Tampa Bay defenders raced in his way to try to stop his shot, Iginla momentarily gripped the puck and made a little shift towards the slot.
Iginla’s shot found its way through and Khabibulin stopped it. But Saprykin positioned himself in a gap between Khabibulin and the defenders, who had been momentarily more focused on stopping Iginla’s shot than tracking him around the crease.
\Saprykin received the rebound and took a few swings at the loose puck. With 5:22 left in overtime, the second whack got the ball in the net behind Khabibulin, giving the Flames a 3-2 lead in the series.
Winger Chris Clark of the 2004 Flames remarked, “It was one of those where you look back on certain games, certain series, whether you played in them or not, there’s always someone that took over.”
“They will do all necessary effort to achieve their goals, as demonstrated by that particular shift, series, and postseason run. He obviously had a lot of weight on his shoulders, and he helped us out several times when we needed a superstar to be the greatest player on the ice, which he consistently was.
In Game 5, Iginla had the most ice time of any skater on either team, totaling 30:54. With six shots on goal (three in overtime), a plus-2 rating, and a goal and an assist, he concluded the game. Of all players in the game, only Saprykin had more shots than Iginla.
Conroy, who played linemates with Iginla for the most of that postseason run, said, “I think I was out there with him for some of it, but he just wouldn’t get off the ice.”
“I believe I watched the last segment from the bench. He simply would not give up. He was just not going to be stopped, not with the holding and the hooking and the way things were back then with all the numerous restrictions. It was evident that he had a mission. It is fabled. That’s what set it apart.
With the win, the Flames tied the New Jersey Devils teams from 1995 and 2000 for the most road wins in a single postseason year. It was also their tenth road win of the playoff season. With the victory, the Flames had two chances to win the title and a chance to win the Stanley Cup at home.
The Flames were unable to win the series, falling short at home in Game 6 by a score of 3-2 in double overtime—a game more remembered for Martin Gelinas’ famous “it was in” non-goal (check out colleague Julian McKenzie’s feature at The Athletic)—before Tampa Bay won the series 1-0 at home in Game 7.
Conroy remarked, “It’s unfortunate that we weren’t able to complete it, but I know he did everything—we all did everything in our power.”
“It was a very demanding playoff series—well, the entire playoff—and we were just a little bit short. Without a doubt, it was heartbreaking. However, it was one incredible shift.
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