• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Flames-Canadiens Preview

Nov 10, 2009 - 4:25 AM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Calgary (10-4-1) at Montreal (8-9-0), 7:30 p.m. EDT

After a relatively quiet October, Jarome Iginla is making plenty of noise in November.

So are the Calgary Flames.

Opening a three-game trip Tuesday night, Iginla and the Flames look for their fourth consecutive victory as they take on a Montreal Canadiens club that's dropped four of six.

Iginla, who led Calgary with 89 points in 2008-09, scored his first goal of the new season in a 4-3 win over the visiting Canadiens on Oct. 6, but he only found the back of the net three more times in the opening month as Calgary finished October 7-4-1.

The Flames' captain, though, will now take a three-game goal scoring streak into the Bell Centre after being named the NHL's first star of the week. Iginla notched an assist and a league-high four goals as Calgary (10-4-1) won three straight to begin November.

"We had some big road wins (at Dallas and St. Louis last week), and we started to play a little more disciplined and tighter defensively," said Iginla, who leads the Flames with eight goals and is second on the club in points with 14, trailing Rene Bourque (17). "Fortunately, some are going in this week."

Iginla, Bourque and Daymond Langkow scored in Saturday's 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers, with Nigel Dawes assisting on all three goals - a career high in assists for the fourth-year forward.

Calgary is 4-1-1 on the road, and seeking its third straight victory away from the Pengrowth Saddledome. The Flames, though, have dropped four straight in Montreal - most recently a 4-1 loss last Dec. 9 - since their last win there, a 3-1 victory Dec. 13, 2000.

"We've got to carry over what we did on the road (last week)," said Iginla, who had a goal in the win nine years ago. "On the road, as a group, we battled harder."

Calgary will be without forward Curtis Glencross, who was suspended by the league Monday for three games after a hit on the Rangers' Chris Drury in Saturday's win.

"My intent was to impede that process and it unfortunately resulted in an awkward collision with Drury," Glencross told the Flames' official Web site.

Glencross' absence may not hurt the Flames' cause much against the slumping Canadiens (8-9-0), who are 2-4-0 since winning four straight Oct. 20-26.

Montreal has also dropped two in a row at the Bell Centre, including Saturday's 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay.

"I thought our second period was good, the start of the first was all right but we've given up goals late in periods, two of them tonight," Brian Gionta said after tying teammate Michael Cammalleri for the club lead with his seventh goal. "That hurts the momentum and we've got to figure out a way to play better for 60 (minutes)."

Cammalleri, who had an assist in the Oct. 6 loss at Calgary, faces his former Flames teammates in Montreal for the first time since signing a five-year deal with the Canadiens in the offseason.

Cammalleri led Calgary with 39 goals last season, and his 82 points were second to Iginla.

Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff made 27 saves against the Canadiens last month, but is 0-3-0 with a 4.05 GAA in three career starts in Montreal.

With Carey Price 1-7-1 with a 3.66 GAA in his last nine appearances, Jaroslav Halak could get the start in goal for the Canadiens. He stopped 24 Calgary shots in the teams' meeting last month.