Conroy sparks Flames to win

Craig Conroy impressed even himself during his return to Calgary.

Conroy scored twice against his former team in his first game with his new club Tuesday night, leading the Flames to a 4-1 victory over the Kings.

The Flames acquired Conroy from the Kings on Monday in a trade for Jamie Lundmark and two draft picks.

The crowd didn’t wait long to welcome Conroy back to Calgary, applauding when he took the ice for pregame warmups and then cheering loudly when he was shown on the video board.

The forward brought the fans to their feet when he knocked a rebound past goalie Sean Burke 1:30 into the second period to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.

Conroy, who spent parts of four seasons in Calgary before signing with the Kings in 2004, completed the scoring at 15:16 of the third with his second goal of the game and eighth of the season.

“It surpassed all expectations,” said Conroy, an instrumental part of Calgary’s run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2004. “It gave me goose bumps being out there on the ice.

“It was a lot of emotion for me.”

Stephane Yelle and David Moss had the other goals for Calgary, which began a four-game homestand with its sixth consecutive victory on home ice.

Mike Cammalleri scored his 20th goal for the Kings, who have only one win in 10 games (1-8-1).

“Just for my own confidence, I needed this,” said Conroy, who entered the game with only six goals in 52 games after notching 22 last season.

The Kings outshot the Flames, 16-7, in the third but couldn’t beat Miikka Kiprusoff. Five of Kiprusoff’s stops came during a 1:29 two-man advantage halfway through the period.

“Tonight was the most I’ve played in three months,” said Conroy, who logged 19 minutes 21 seconds of ice time -- 11 seconds off his season high.

“In L.A., I wasn’t killing any penalties. I wasn’t really on the power play.”