It was a no-hoper, really.

Calgary's Jamie lundmark, left, reacts after scoring the winning goal in the Flames' 4-3 shootout win over Columbus on Saturday night. daymond langkow offers a congratulatory pat.

Photograph by : Matt Sullivan, Reuters

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All the Calgary Flames had to do was glide through the final 20 minutes, pack their sacks, lick their wounds, flap away to Nashville.

After all, they were down two goals. They had just played a crummy second period. And they were in a hostile building that, on a regular basis, sucks the life of out of them.

Quietly into the night the Flames go.

Right?

Well, apparently not.

As it turns out, Calgary head coach Brent Sutter had something to say during the second intermission. Boiled down, he told his boys exactly how they could win. Also? That he believed in them.

The Flames bought it.

Because they scored twice in the final six minutes--Dustin Boyd at 14:13, Nigel Dawes at 15:32--to square the contest against the Columbus Blue Jackets, then trotted out Jamie Lundmark, as their fourth gunner, to claim the thing 4-3 in a shootout Saturday in National Hockey League action.

Nothing to it.

"We were confident," Olli Jokinen said after the squad ended its four-game losing streak at Nationwide Arena, improving its lifetime log in Ohio to 5-12-1. "The coaching staff was confident that, if we could get back to the way we played in the first period, we could win the game. That was the message.

"We came back hard in the third, you know. We had chances. It was a good comeback win. Big two points.

"Maybe we got a little bit lucky there, but you need luck."

And a little faith. The coaches' support extends to individuals, too.

Lundmark got to play hero, just 24 hours after contributing two points in a 3-0 triumph in Detroit. Yes, quite a roll.

But following Friday's win over the Red Wings, Sutter had acknowledged sloppy defensive work by Lundmark earlier in the week, but added he wasn't about to give up on the lad.

Lo and behold, No. 45 is starting to pay dividends. Lundmark appreciates, well, everything.

"They've been patient, with me coming back (to the NHL)," said Lundmark, emotion in his voice. "Obviously, the timing is different playing up here than down there.''

''It might take a couple games to get back. I'm feeling pretty good right now. I think I can be better. I'm starting to feel really good out there," said Lundmark.

Speaking of patience, hard-luck backup Curtis McElhinney snared his third career win--but his second in as many starts.

This happened to be his first NHL shootout.

Feeling nervous?

"Oh, pretty good," said McElhinney. "I mean, I do a lot of them in practice. It's fun."

After allowing two challengers to score--Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash ( "Great shot. He beat me clean. I'll concede that even though I knew what he was doing")--he slammed the door on Fedor Tyutin and Anton Stralman, who actually steamed straight into the net-minder.

It had already been a rough-and-tumble evening for McElhinney, with Jared Boll slamming him behind the net, with Derick Brassard belting him from behind.

"I was getting plowed out there," said a smiling McElhinney, six foot two and 193 pounds.

"But that's fun. I'm a little bit of a bigger goalie in regards to muscle and stuff, so I don't mind the physical side of the game. I don't want to make a habit of it."