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Bourque scores 3 in Flames' 4-1 win at Oilers

Dec 29, 2009 - 6:37 AM EDMONTON, Alberta(AP) -- Rene Bourque had the best of his many excellent games against the Oilers.

He scored three goals for his second career hat trick to help the Calgary Flames end a three-game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night.

Bourque, who is from the town of Lac La Biche about 100 miles northeast of Edmonton, has 10 points in four games against the Oilers this season.

"It seems to be a good team for me to play against," Bourque said. "I had a lot of family and friends here for this game and it is always nice to be able to perform like that with them around to watch it."

Ryan Potulny replied for the Oilers, who have lost seven in a row, their worst run since a nine-game skid from Feb. 25-March 15, 2007.

Mark Giordano also scored for the Flames, who have won all four meetings with the Oilers this year, but have struggled overall in December. On Sunday, they lost 5-1 to Vancouver at home.

"We were pretty bad at home our last game and we knew we needed to win this game," assistant captain Jay Bouwmeester said. "We allowed a lot of shots early, but we settled down and played a lot better after that."

Edmonton scored 2:02 into the game when Potulny tipped in a shot by defenseman Jason Strudwick during a scramble in front of goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.

Bourque scored the next three goals, his first coming at 18:58 when he tied it off a pass by Nigel Dawes from behind the net. The Oilers outshot Calgary 16-5 in the period.

"We should have put some of those in and then the sad thing is we give up a crappy goal at the end of the period," Oilers coach Pat Quinn said. "It was such a weak goal and it took the steam out of us a little bit.

"Until we have the mental strength to fight through something like that, that is what is going to happen. We're going to have to find a way to turn the corner and not give up the easy stuff."

Bourque swept in the puck after Olli Jokinen hit the crossbar in the second period, and completed the hat trick five minutes into the third period. He directed in a rebound of Daymond Langkow's shot for his 13th goal of the season.

Less than two minutes later, Giordano beat Jeff Deslauriers on the glove side with a quick wrist shot from the middle of the face-off circle.

The game's final five minutes included three more fights, including one between Flames captain Jarome Iginla and Ladislav Smid.

NOTES: Edmonton's Dustin Penner played in his 300th NHL game. ... It was Edmonton D Sheldon Souray's first game against the Flames since he was tripped into the boards and injured by Calgary's Jarome Iginla on Oct. 8. ... Iginla has now gone six games without scoring against the Oilers and 10 games without scoring at Rexall Place in Edmonton. ... Jokinen recorded his 300th career assist on Calgary's first-period goal.