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Flames stay hot against Toronto

Feb 15, 2012 - 5:26 AM Calgary, AB (Sports Network) - Miikka Kiprusoff made 41 saves, backstopping the Calgary Flames to a convincing 5-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Calgary's top-line trio of Olli Jokinen, Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla lived up to their billing as Tanguay had a goal and two assists, while Iginla and Jokinen finished with a goal and an assist apiece. Blake Comeau and Paul Byron also scored for the Flames, who have won three of their last four games.

"When you're in a dogfight like this and you're scratching and clawing for every point, it's nice to have Kipper (Kiprusoff)," Flames head coach Brent Sutter said.

Tyler Bozak scored for the Maple Leafs, who have lost four straight for the first time this season. Jonas Gustavsson was tagged for all five goals on 34 shots in defeat.

Calgary struck first just 4:43 into the game when Tanguay accepted a nice pass from Jokinen in the slot and fired a quick shot over the shoulder of Gustavsson and just under the crossbar.

The Flames extended their lead to 2-0 at 8:13 of the first stanza after Iginla sent a pass to Tanguay from just inside the offensive blue line on the left wing. Tanguay glided to the slot with Jokinen to his right. Tanguay then fed a pass just under a diving Dion Phaneuf right to the tape of Jokinen, who one- timed it home.

Toronto cut the deficit to 2-1 with 3:18 to play in the first period when Phil Kessel threw a shot on net that was stopped by Kiprusoff, but Bozak pounced on the rebound in front and stuffed it past the Finnish netminder.

But Calgary snatched the momentum right back at 9:15 of the second frame after Byron was brought down from behind and was awarded a penalty shot.

Byron swung out to the right and cut back before putting a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Gustavsson for a 3-1 Flames lead.

The Flames put the game away with two scores in the third period to account for the final margin.

Comeau made it 4-1 at 15:09 when he slowly crept in from the high slot while all five Leafs were puck-watching and took a perfect feed from Mike Cammalleri before ripping a quick wrister past Gustavsson to make it 4-1, and Iginla finished off the rout with a wrister from the slot that got through a screened Gustavsson.

"We had a couple of really bad mistakes on the back end and the puck ended up in the net," Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson said. "We got running around and our coverage was horrific in the first ten minutes of the game."

Game Notes

Prior to Tuesday's contest, the Leafs placed defenseman Carl Gunnarson on injured reserve with an ankle injury and recalled Keith Aulie from the Toronto Marlies of the AHL...Kiprusoff improved to 9-3-2 in his last 14 starts...Jokinen has six goals and seven assists in the past 10 games...Toronto finished 0-for-3 with the man advantage, while the Flames failed to score on two power-play chances...The Flames will visit the Dallas Stars on Thursday, while the Maple Leafs will travel to Edmonton to face the Oilers on Wednesday.