CALGARY -- On the night Calgary honoured former great Joe Nieuwendyk, an inspired new generation of exciting young centres led the Flames to a thrilling come-from-behind victory. Shaquille ONeal Lakers Jersey . Joe Colborne scored twice and Sean Monahan had the other in a furious third period comeback that saw Calgary overcome a 3-1 deficit with less than nine minutes to go to edge the New York Islanders 4-3 on Friday. Colborne was not yet born when Nieuwendyk scored 51 goals as a rookie in 1987-88. Nonetheless, the touching ceremony made an impact on the Calgary-born 2008 first round pick acquired from Toronto at the start of the year. "You forget how good he was," said Colborne, whos first career two-goal game gives him seven goals on the season. "You hear his points and stuff and you almost forget until they walk you through his career, and that was really cool for me. "I might have felt it a little more than some of the other guys because he was one of my favourites growing up." Colborne got the Flames comeback started at 11:29 when he knocked in a rebound off the end boards after Mark Giordanos point shot missed the net. After Monahan went forehand to backhand on a pretty play in-close to tie it at 14:22, Colborne completed the comeback, deflecting in Giordanos slapshot at 15:41. "Joe Nieuwendyk started the game and Joe Colborne decided that he would finish the game," said Flames coach Bob Hartley. The win gives Calgary seven in its last eight games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. "Obviously its always fun after a win but after a game like that when youre down and you come back, it feels that much better," said Monahan, who leads the team with 19 goals. "After those couple goals by us, it felt like they stepped back a little bit. At that point when you have momentum like that, it almost feels like that next goals coming and thats what happened." Finnish rookie Markus Granlund, with his second goal in as many games, also scored for Calgary (25-31-7). The Flames, who had eight rookies in their line-up for the first time since Dec. 10, 1996, play in Vancouver on Saturday. Kyle Okposo, Colin McDonald and Brock Nelson scored for New York (24-33-9). The Islanders are 1-1-1 with one game to go on a four-game road trip. The Islanders also play in Vancouver next but not until Monday. Hartley said it was some words from veteran players at the second intermission that got his team going again. "We had a good little talk in the locker room and the boys got back and they were on their toes again," he said. "When we work, when we drive the net, were a pretty solid team. I dont care how many kids we have in the line-up. Its all about passion. "We never quit. Im pretty proud of my boys." The third period unfolded just like it did Thursday night in Edmonton when the Islanders blew a two-goal lead in a 3-2 loss. "We just stopped playing," said Okposo, who leads the team with 26 goals. "We gave up a goal and we stopped moving our feet and stopped going after them. We dominated the game for 50 minutes. Theres no reason we should lose that game." Tied 1-1, the Islanders took their first lead early in the second period on an uncharacteristic giveaway by Giordano, which led to a two-on-one goal finished off by Okposo. New York took a 3-1 lead to the third period. "We were playing well until 10 minutes left and they get one, they find a bounce off the end boards and score and we just pucker up," said Islanders defenceman Thomas Hickey. It is the 12th time the Islanders have lost a game in which they held a two-goal lead. "You look at it and were in the playoffs if we dont do that. But you cant even make that excuse. The good teams find a way to win those and were not doing that right now," said Hickey. After winning his first NHL game on Wednesday, Ortio had 23 saves in his third NHL start to improve to 2-1-0. Nilsson made 19 saves for New York and fell to 2-4-2. The Flames are 9-4-0 in their last 13 games. "Tonight was far from being the perfect game, lets be honest. It was an exciting game but Im not happy," said Hartley. "But that third period, just like the fans, Im thrilled. This building was electric in the third period. It was such a great atmosphere on the bench. "To feel the fans, it seemed like the entire crowd was sitting on the bench with us." Granlund opened the scoring at 2:01 with the second NHL goal of his career and second in as many games, this time shorthanded. Notes: Several of Nieuwendyks teammates from the Flames Stanley Cup winning team in 1989 were part of the ceremony for the Flames Forever a Flame recognition... Calgary D Tyler Wotherspoon played his first NHL game. He replaced Dennis Wideman (upper body), who was hurt in Wednesdays win over Ottawa. Wotherspoon is the fourth Flame to make his NHL debut in the past nine days... Between the two teams, there were 15 rookies dressed... Also out of the line-up for Calgary was Jiri Hudler (upper body)... Calgary had eight of its own draft picks in the line-up for the first time since Mar. 3, 2009. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Jersey . -- Dee Ford prefers to keep things simple: Play hard and fast, and let others worry about his NFL draft stock. Derek Fisher Lakers Jersey . He was signed to help with depth to the receiving corps because of the loss of Shamawd Chambers to the 6-game injured list.ALAMEDA, Calif. - Tony Sparano won over the locker room and changed the mindset of the Oakland Raiders in 12 games as interim coach.That garnered him widespread support in the locker room despite getting only three wins. Whether it proves to be enough for him to keep the job next season will ultimately be up to owner Mark Davis.Sparano wrapped up the season Monday by holding a brief team meeting with his players and then emphatically stating his case for keeping the job in a season-ending news conference.All I want to do right now is be the head coach of the Raiders, Sparano said. How badly? Very, very badly. This is my team. I left my team today. Im looking forward to starting over again with them. Those decisions will be made down the road. I only have one concern now and thats to be head coach of the Oakland Raiders.Sparano appeared to be talking to Davis as much as anyone during the news conference. He cited the spark he has with his team, the improvement following the firing of Dennis Allen in September and the 27 first- or second-year players who participated in more than 10,000 plays this season.Im confident. I know the direction this is headed, Sparano said. Ive done this before, not quite like this. Ive got a lot of work done right here. I want that work to be for me, for this organization.Sparano will get the chance to talk directly with Davis when he interviews for the job shortly. Davis will also interview other candidates but big names like Jim Harbaugh and Jon Gruden are no longer options.Sparano and the players also talked about the importance of continuity, citing the eight head coaches and more than 100 assistants Oakland has had in 12 seasons since last going to the playoffs in 2002.Defensive end Justin Tuck,, one of the many proven veterans brought in this off-season to help instil a winning mindset in Oakland, said he hopes that there will not be major changes on the coaching staff. Wilt Chamberlain Jersey. uck, who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, said the Raiders are not as far away from becoming a winner as most outsiders might think.Were not far off, he said. Obviously you look at the record and say, Theyre at the bottom of the league and things like that. I think Ive played this game long enough and a lot of guys around here have played this game long enough to know that the foundation has been set here.Defensive lineman Antonio Smith said Sparanos best trait was his ability to keep the team together through an 0-10 start. The Raiders played their best football late in a lost season and never showed signs of giving up on the field.Smith said without that leadership from Sparano, this team could have joined the 2008 Detroit Lions as the only teams ever to go winless in a 16-game season.Definitely. It could have easily went that way, Smith said. Oh, yeah. If everybody wouldnt have bought in, if he wouldnt have been able to relate to players enough to get them to buy in, it would have been exactly that.Left tackle Donald Penn praised Sparanos honesty, motivation and leadership and said it only would be fair to get a full season to show what he could do with his own team.You have to understand, he inherited somebody elses team, Penn said. If you give him an off-season to make his moves and bring in the guys he wants to bring and give him a year with his own team, a full year, I think he will make some changes and I think things will get better.___Online:AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '