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Langkow records four points as Flames dump Avalanche

Jan 12, 2007 - 6:50 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- Thanks to Daymond Langkow's explosive outing, the Calgary Flames continue to get used to life without captain Jarome Iginla.

Langkow had two goals and two assists and Kristian Huselius added a pair of tallies for the Flames, who extended their winning streak to four games with a 7-3 triumph over the Colorado Avalanche.

In recording his third career four-point game, Langkow also notched his first multi-goal performance of the season. He did his part to help fill the void left by Iginla, the team's top scorer who sat out his third straight contest with a knee injury.

"Since Iggy has been out, the guys realize that we have to pick it up, and I think we have," Langkow said. "To a man, everybody has done a tremendous job, and that's what we're going to have to continue to do."

After Alex Tanguay set up rookie David Moss for his fifth goal of the season, which gave Calgary a 3-2 lead, Langkow netted a shorthanded tally midway through the second period to double the advantage.

"I was just trying to get wood on it," Langkow said. "I had a bad angle. I hit (goaltender Peter Budaj) square in the face and it came right back to my stick."

"It lifts your team's spirits because it gives your team a chance to stay with the program of competing hard," Flames coach Jim Playfair said. "We want our penalty-killers to be a lot more aggressive up ice, a lot more aggressive in the defensive zone, and I think when you're doing things right, you're going to create opportunities."

Less than two minutes later, Langkow struck again by taking Tanguay's cross-ice feed and firing the puck past Budaj, just inside the right goalpost. Colorado responded by replacing Budaj with former Hart and Vezina Trophy winner Jose Theodore.

"It's disappointing, (but) it's not demoralizing," Budaj said. "You've got to look at it that way. It's one game. If the whole season is based on one game, that's different. But we have 40 games, 39 games left and we're still there."

Andrew Brunette cut the deficit to 5-3 on the power play with 4:37 left in the middle session before Tony Amonte beat Theodore for his eighth tally with eight seconds remaining in the period.

Huselius netted a shorthanded tally in the first period and completed his second multi-goal game of the season in the third period, giving him 17 goals this season.

"You're not going to win giving up two shorthanded goals," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. "I don't care what happens. We gave up more odd-man breaks in that second period than we did probably in the last month. We gave them free access to our slot. Our coverage was terrible and definitely not good enough."

Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves for his fifth victory in six starts, raising his record 21-14-3.

"We played pretty well 5-on-5 all night," Kiprusoff said. "In the first period, they were using their power play and scored a couple of goals. Otherwise, we played pretty tight defense all night."

"It's nice for us to get the win," Tanguay said. "But with everything being so tight in our division, we're just looking to come in here and play a solid game and get two points."

After Budaj stopped 12 shots in 32 minutes, Theodore turned aside seven for the Avalanche, who have lost five straight meetings with the Flames.

"We didn't help out our goalie at all tonight," Colorado captain Joe Sakic said. "It all starts with the power play. You give up two shorthanded goals, it definitely hurts your momentum. A couple of turnovers in the neutral zone. ... On the power play, we have to take advantage and get it in deep."