Matt Stajan’s hands are supposed to be mainly for setting up Jarome Iginla.
The Calgary Flames are thankful it works the other way, too.
Stajan, one of the six new faces acquired this week to save the struggling club’s season, came through when his new team needed it most in Wednesday night’s 4-1 victory over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.
With the score tied at one apiece late in the second period, Stajan — one of the four former Toronto Maple Leafs acquired in the Dion Phaneuf trade Sunday — drove to the net while Iginla drove down the wing with the puck.
The pass ended up in Stajan’s feet, but at full stride he kicked it to his stick and shoved the puck past Carolina goalie Cam Ward for the game-winning tally before the sold out Saddledome crowd of 19,289.
Thanks to Curtis Glencross’s second goal of the game, which came less than a minute later en route to his first career hat trick, the Flames sailed to just their second victory in 12 outings.
The Flames (28-21-8) remain in ninth spot in the Western Conference standings.
The end result is a positive step forward for the struggling club, but shouldn’t be taken as a sign the team is out of the woods.
For starters, the two victories compiled during this disappointing run have come at the expense of a Hurricanes team sitting 29th in the NHL and the 30th-place Edmonton Oilers.
And it’s not like Calgary looked like world beaters while beating the ’Canes.
Part of that can be attributed to all the fresh faces. Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik made their Flames debut after being acquired late Monday night from the New York Rangers.
Meanwhile, Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and Ian White were playing just their second game in Calgary silks, and the first one — that awful 3-0 defeat against the Philadelphia Flyers — was a write-off for everyone involved.
However, the club still doesn’t look quite right, and hasn’t fixed nearly enough bad habits.
Take the way the hosts played after staking themselves to an early lead on the first Glencross tally — which came less than three minutes into the clash because Eric Nystrom’s centring pass banked off his mid-second and ricocheted off Carolina defenceman Joni Pitkanen before going in the net.
Instead of taking advantage of a ’Canes team which is already a lame-duck in the playoff chase, the Flames did their all-too-often-seen routine of sitting on the lead.
Well, that and took a bunch of infractions.
Through the first two periods, Carolina had nine powerplay opportunities — nearly half the game to that point — and it finally bit the Flames in the backside near the midway point when Eric Staal deflected Jussi Jokinen’s shot.
To Calgary’s credit, seeing that lead disappear sparked the hosts.
Only 52 seconds after Stajan become the first of the fresh faces to light the lamp, Glencross added some insurance with a goal he’ll be happier to see on the highlight reels.
As he broke down the left wing, Glencross used the defender as a screen while he ripped a short-side slapper past Ward’s short-side.
Glencross added an empty netter for his 14th goal of the season, one more than his total from last season.
Although the Flames held a big edge in shots, the win came with handful of big stops from Miikka Kiprusoff amidst a 27-save outing.
Ward stopped 35 shots for Carolina (19-30-7).
The Flames begin a three-game road trip Friday night in Florida, before heading to Tampa Bay and then Ottawa.
