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Langkow's hat trick helps Flames burn Kings

Jan 19, 2008 - 7:17 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Daymond Langkow has really enjoyed facing the Los Angeles Kings this season.

Langkow notched his first hat trick in nearly five years Friday night as the Calgary Flames cruised to a 6-1 victory over the Kings.

Matthew Lombardi added a goal and an assist for Calgary, which has beaten Los Angeles six consecutive times.

"We made far too many mistakes, both in the offensive zone and in the defensive zone," Kings coach Marc Crawford said. "I thought that puck battles were the crucial element in the game, and they won a lot more of the puck battles than we did."

The 31-year-old Langkow has been especially productive against the Kings this season, tallying seven goals in their three meetings. He also has netted the game-winner in each of those contests.

"Some nights you get chance after chance and it doesn't go in for you, but tonight was just one of those nights where it's fine," Langkow said.

Langkow, who had his last hat trick as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes on January 24, 2003 against the Edmonton Oilers, has scored 17 goals in 38 career games against the Kings.

The Edmonton native produced the eventual game-winning goal with 9:12 left in the first period. In giving the Flames a 2-0 edge, he fired a shot from the slot past goaltender Jason LaBarbera for his 18th of the season.

Langkow extended the lead to three with 8:56 remaining in the second period, when he scored from the edge of the crease.

He finished off his first hat trick as a Flame and the third of his career at 2:03 of third period on a power play, deflecting defenseman Adrian Aucoin's shot past netminder Jean-Sebastien Aubin for a 6-1 bulge.

"I was lucky I didn't get hurt there," Langkow said of his third goal. "I was screening the goalie, Aucoin took a pretty hard slapper, it hit my shaft and went in. It pays to stand in front of the net."

"I don't think that many coaches have had that privilege (of having a five-goal lead) this year, it's a tight league," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said. "We just played five games in eight nights, and the energy level is something that we wanted to try and sustain. That's the challenge when you have a lead like that, to make sure they're energized every shift."

Langkow provided all the offense Miikka Kiprusoff needed, as the Finnish netminder made 37 saves.

"He had a lot of balance tonight, that's for sure, and he came off a big victory in Minnesota, and that pushed us into first place in the (Northwest) Division tonight," Keenan said of Kiprusoff. "He is focused on the aspect of winning more than anything else, and that's probably energizing him."

Kiprusoff's bid for his first shutout of the season was spoiled late in the second period by Derek Armstrong.

After Calgary captain Jarome Iginla turned over the puck in his own zone, Kiprusoff stopped tough guy Raitis Ivanans' initial shot. But Armstrong whacked in the rebound while on his backhand to cut the deficit to 4-1 with 2:47 left.

Craig Conroy opened the scoring at 7:27 of the opening session and Stephane Yelle added a shorthanded tally with 4:28 left in the second to give Calgary a 4-0 lead.

LaBarbera allowed five goals on 25 shots before being replaced by Aubin, who made four saves.

"I thought that Jason played well, holding us in early in the game," Crawford said. "Then in the second, we started to play a little bit better, but the bounces kind of went their way, and probably because they worked extremely hard tonight."

Los Angeles had its three-game winning streak snapped.

"We have to learn how to respond," Kings captain Rob Blake said. "We haven't done a very good job of that this year. We had a three-game win streak coming in here and did nothing to try and get the win here. We basically gave it to Calgary, and they capitalized."