In the end it came down to skill.

Not hard work, not a never say die attitude, not a plucky team that just won't give up.

When the dust settled on a thrilling seven game series with the Vancouver Canucks, the Flames the benefactor of a 4-3 series win and a 3-2 overtime win in game seven, it was Calgary skill that carried the torch.

From the get go the matchup was laid down as brawn versus wizardry, brute force versus on ice poetry, dogged determination against playoff experience. But in the end it was Calgary's star players - forward Jarome Iginla, and goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff that led the way in upsetting the division champion Vancouver Canucks.

"In my 25 years in hockey, that was the single most dominant game I've ever seen a player play", said coach and general manager Darryl Sutter, referring to the three point, nine shot performance of his star player and captain Jarome Iginla.

Iginla, a decorated player with an Art Ross and now two Rocket Richard Trophies has always been held back in the pecking order league wide because he hasn't brought his act to the playoffs.

He has now.

"That was a superstar performance", added a very gracious Marc Crawford after the game, "that was the best game I've ever seen a player play in my time".

The Iginla masterpiece began in the second period when he took advantage of a lazy Geoff Sanderson, finding open ice to receive a Craig Conroy pass. Matthew Lombardi, killing the last seconds of a Calgary penalty fed Conroy coming out of the penalty box, who backhand passed it up the middle to a streaking Iginla who beat Alex Auld for his 4th of the series.

The Canucks thought they tied the score late in the second when Mike Keanne fired a crease shot into Miikka Kiprusoff's pads with the net coming off the moorings soon after. The replay showed the puck entering the cage before the net came off, but the whistle was ruled to have gone before the puck slid into the net. Tough call against the Canucks.

The Canucks tied the score in the third period when Matt Cooke pounced on a redirect off a skate and beat Miikka Kiprusoff to notch the game at one.

Soon after the Canuck goal hero Matt Cooke was whistled down for a high sticking double minor on Rhett Warrener. The HNIC crew and many a Canuck in the post game interviews stated the call was a mistake as Andrew Ference lifted Cooke's stick and into his defence partner's face. The replay, however, shows Ference's stick above Cooke's and not in a lifting fashion, though he did drive Cooke into Warrener on the play. The correct call should have been a penalty, but likely not a double minor.

The Flames made good work of that first minor when Iginla notched his second of the night on a great play by Jordan Leopold. Leopold saw his lane blocked off, took the puck to the middle and fired a low wrister towards the net. Iginla deflected that offering, picked up his rebound and deftly moved it around Auld's pad and into the net.

2-1 Calgary.

That set the stage for a very wild finish.

First Andrew Ference was fingered for slashing when he actually broke his own stick and not the defending Sedin twin on the play, with less than two minutes on the clock.

The Flames killed the first 3/4 of that call when Ed Jovanovski was whistled for laying lumber into Warrener's neck not once, but three straight times.

Then with less than 30 seconds to play Iginla misses an empty net as a fan's garment flew on to the ice. The referee bent over to pick the clothing up, missing an obvious infraction with Iginla's stick being chopped out of his hands. Seconds later Iginla trips on his own stick creating an odd man rush for Canuck captain Marcus Naslund. Naslund beats Leopold wide, takes the puck to the net where Matt Cooke bashes in the rebound to send the game to overtime.

The curse, at that time seemed very real. 15 years without a playoff victory, a run that included seven years out of the playoffs. Seven straight playoff games where the Flames have failed to eliminate an opponent with the chance to do so, and eight straight overtime games where the Flames have found a way to lose.

Tough up hill hike to take on with a goal coming less than six seconds from a series win. You could almost hear the horror music in the background. Same old script, same old heartbreak, same old "why me?" proclamations from Calgary fans.

Not this time.

With the Jovanovski minor still being served the Flames started the overtime period on the powerplay. What an ironic way to end a series.

With the Flames seemingly going longer and longer in overtime over the years without a winner, and the powerplay soiling itself on occasion after occasion through the series, one wouldn't think a quick powerplay winner was in the cards, but that's exactly what transpired.

Jarome Iginla directed the puck towards the net, Stephane Yelle kept it alive before Iginla fired yet another shot with his series long check, Mattias Ohlund in his wake. Martin Gelinas picked up the rebound and fired it home to clinch the series.

The fact that Gelinas, a member of the 1994 Canucks that beat the Flames in Calgary in game seven, scored the winner is just great filler for a long time coming Calgary series win.

The monkey has been tossed off the Flames back, stomped on and left for dead. This team is its own, they don't belong to previous Flame clubs that stumbled their way through Stanley's dance and they deserve the space to write their own piece of Calgary playoff history.

Now the Flames embark on the second round of the playoffs ... an oddity for sure, against a very worthy and experienced Detroit Red Wing team. The Flames are decimated by injuries and likely have many more bodies listed as healthy that wouldn't be playing if it was a regular season game against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The team that made it out of this battle was likely to be in over their heads in the second round, and that just may be the case for the Flames against Detroit.

However, counting this team out has been fool's gold all season.

"It feels good", said the hero Jarome Iginla, "it's been 15 years for Calgary. Lets keep it going!".

Amen Jarome. Amen.

Have fun Calgary, it's been far too long.