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Flames' Kiprusoff shuts out Canadiens

Nov 11, 2009 - 4:11 AM MONTREAL(AP) -- When Miikka Kiprusoff and Jarome Iginla both produce, the Calgary Flames can get away with scoring only once.

Kiprusoff earned his first shutout of the season and Iginla extended his goal-scoring streak to four games, leading Calgary to a 1-0 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

Kiprusoff made 25 saves and improved to 10-3-1 this season as Calgary won its fourth straight to begin a three-game trip. It was his 31st NHL shutout, his first since Feb. 12, when he turned aside 36 shots in a 2-0 win over Los Angeles.

"It's always nice. It says a lot about how your team plays in front of you, too," Kiprusoff said.

Named the NHL's first star of the week on Monday, Iginla scored his team-leading ninth goal at 14:55.

Iginla, who has scored five times during the streak, took a return pass from Olli Jokinen and put a shot through traffic past Jaroslav Halak from the top of the right circle for the game's lone goal.

"It's a good spot to shoot from, lots of things can happen," Iginla said. "It was a quick give-and-go and we just got them turning a little bit."

Halak stopped 30 shots for Montreal, which has lost its last three games at home.

"It's tough but sometimes it happens in hockey," Halak said. "You just have to find a way to score a goal."

The Canadiens, who lost 4-3 in Calgary on Oct. 6, have dropped five of seven overall.

"It's frustrating. We can't put a goal on the board," said left winger Mike Cammalleri, who led the Flames with 39 goals last season before signing a five-year deal with Montreal as an unrestricted free agent.

Flames forward Curtis Glencross sat out the first game of his three-game suspension. Glencross was suspended by the NHL on Monday for his hit to the head of Chris Drury of the New York Rangers in Calgary's 3-1 win Saturday.

Rene Bourque drew his 12th assist of the season to increase his team-leading point total to 18.

"He's been playing like a horse," Iginla said. "He took two guys on him and then I think it went to Olli, then myself. We were trying to keep it off the wall for a quick give-and-go.

"There wasn't a lot of room on the pass that Olli gave me for him to get it through but good passers make those."

The sellout crowd of 21,273 came to life during a wild stretch of 4-on-4 play in the second that saw Montreal's Scott Gomez go in on a breakaway and deke Kiprusoff, only to lose control of the puck with an opportunity to shoot over the goalie's right pad into an open left side.

"Oh yeah, he had me big time," Kiprusoff said. "I was lucky there."

Kiprusoff protected his shutout with a fine stop on Cammalleri just over 4 minutes into the third.

"He likes to shoot the puck a lot and you never know what he's going to do," Kiprusoff said.

The Canadiens, who will celebrate their 100th anniversary on Dec. 4, wore retro uniforms patterned after those worn by the 1910-11 team. Strikingly similar to the Minnesota Wild's look, the red-white-and-green throwback jerseys feature a green maple leaf crest on the front.

"We see the Minnesota Wild a lot and there were some similarities for sure with the colors, but we knew we were in Montreal," Iginla said. "It's a good atmosphere in here and the crowd gets going. They're on every hit and into the play and stuff. It's definitely another fun building to play in."

NOTES: Kiprusoff had four shutouts last season. ... Flames D Adam Pardy fought Montreal's Travis Moen 10:38 in. Canadiens RW Ryan White and Calgary's Eric Nystrom got fighting majors later in the first. ... The Canadiens, founded on Dec. 4, 1909, wore light brown gloves to evoke the look of old leather. Montreal went 8-8 in 1910-11 during the team's second season in the National Hockey Association, the NHL's predecessor. ... Canadiens D Jay Leach played his first game since he was claimed off waivers from New Jersey on Friday.