CALGARY, Alberta -- Calgary Flames goaltender Karri Ramo didn't mind that he missed out on an opportunity to break a 23-year-old franchise record.

The 29-year-old netminder just wanted to make enough saves to help the Flames beat the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.

Looking for his second straight shutout, Ramo gave up a late goal to Lightning center Steven Stamkos with 1:39 left in the third period, but he still finished with 30 saves to backstop the Flames to a 3-1 win over the Lightning.

"I'd rather take the win," said Ramo, who still established a career-high shutout sequence of 152:55 which is short of the franchise record of 164:40 that Mike Vernon set in December of 1992. "I don't really worry too much about (the shutout). Giving up a goal late is never good, but we battled through it and got the empty netter. It's a huge win."

Calgary coach Bob Hartley commended Ramo for his recent string of solid goaltending.

"He's been unbelievable," said Hartley. "He's been great and he gives us some great saves at the right time and that's what you need from a goalie. He's probably one of the best goalies in the league right now."

Stamkos was disappointed that the Lightning didn't make things tough enough on Ramo.

"I'm not taking anything away from him, but I don't think we tested him enough," said Stamkos. "I don't think we had enough quality chances. He did make some nice saves, but we're a group that should have some more quality chances than that and we didn't do that tonight."

Centers Matt Stajan and Lance Bouma and right winger David Jones scored for the Flames (19-18-2), who vaulted over three teams and into third place in the Pacific Division.

"That's where we want to be but we know there's still more than half a season here," said Stajan of the Flames moving into a playoff spot for the time being. "We want start moving up, giving ourselves a cushion."

Goalie Ben Bishop made 21 saves for the Lightning (19-17-4), who have gone 3-4-1 in their past eight games.

"It's about 60 minutes, it has been the whole year," said Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman. "It's there sometimes, but most times it's not. That doesn't cut it. Teams are too good. We're not that good of a team that can play for 40 (minutes) and just roll with it."

Stajan scored to put the Flames up 1-0 at 3:56 of the first period when he backhanded a cross-crease pass from defenseman Mark Giordano past Bishop.

"He did a great job getting it across to me," said Stajan. "For me, I was just trying to make sure to get it through. I'll take it. That's a nice gift from Gio. I owe him a dinner or something for that one."

A short time later, Bishop had to be sharp to make a pad save on a point shot by defenseman Dennis Wideman.

At the other end of the ice, Ramo kicked out his right pad to stop a shot from in close off the stick of Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman

Despite the fact that Tampa Bay outshot Calgary 14-7 in the second period, the Flames took a 2-0 lead when Jones redirected a pass from Giordano into the top corner behind Bishop with 4:30 to play before the second intermission.

"I didn't know if I was going to get another one this year," said Jones, who snapped an 18-game goalless drought. "It was a great play. When our D are jumping down like that, it just makes everything for us."

Ramo received some help to keep his shut-out string alive from defenseman TJ Brodie five minutes into the third period. Brodie cleared a loose puck off the goal line after Ramo made the initial save to stop a scoring attempt by Lightning forward Valtteri Filppula.

After Stamkos got the Lightning on the board, Bouma rounded out the scoring with an empty-net goal at 19:02 of the third period.

"It's frustrating," said Stamkos after the loss. "No one's feeling sorry for us right now. We can't sit here and pout. We've got to do something about it."

Lightning forward Ryan Callahan left the game late in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return.

NOTES: Lightning C Tyler Johnson played in his 200th career NHL game. ... RW Jiri Hudler logged only 5:26 of ice time Saturday during Calgary's 4-0 road win over the Colorado Avalanche because of a lower-body injury that also kept him out Tuesday. He was replaced in the lineup by Mason Raymond, who plays both right and left wing. ... Calgary's other scratches were LW Brandon Bollig and D Deryk Engelland, while Tampa Bay scratched RW Erik Condra and D Matthew Carle. ... Linesman Mike Cvik, a Calgary native, worked his 1,868th and final NHL game Tuesday.