• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Kiprusoff strong as Flames roll past Avalanche

Nov 29, 2006 - 4:46 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Strong efforts by Miikka Kiprusoff are old news for the Calgary Flames. On the other hand, an offensive outburst is certainly worthy of the front page.

Kiprusoff made 23 saves and five different players scored as the Flames skated to an impressive 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay and defensemen Dion Phaneuf and Roman Hamrlik each recorded a goal and an assist as Calgary snapped a brief two-game skid and halted Colorado's winning streak at two games.

"Tonight we did better things," Iginla said. "We moved it. We were a little bit more patient. We got ourselves into different positions where we were jamming the net, which opened up point shots. All around, we were better than we have been lately."

The Flames went 3-for-5 with the man advantage and reached the five-goal plateau for just the second time this season en route to their fourth straight win against the Avalanche.

"Producing on the power play is all that matters," said Matthew Lombardi, who scored Calgary's third man-advantage goal. "We just kept it simple. We got shots to the net."

Kiprusoff turned aside all 21 shots he faced through the first two periods. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner has allowed three goals or fewer in 15 consecutive contests.

Iginla opened the scoring late in the first period, beating goaltender Jose Theodore on a redirection of a shot by Phaneuf.

Early in the middle session, Phaneuf got into the act with the Flames on a 5-on-3 advantage, unleashing a blast from the high slot that sailed into the top right corner of the net.

"Dion is more of a shooter," said Flames center Daymond Langkow, who chipped in two assists. "He'll try and find an area where he can get a great hard shot."

Lombardi scored just 1:25 later and Hamrlik's second goal of the season pushed the advantage to 4-0 with 4:29 to go in the second period.

"Tonight was a big game for our special unit," said Tanguay, a former member of the Avalanche. "We'll certainly take that and hopefully we can play the same way on special units in the next few games."

Theodore finished with 32 saves and rookies Peter Stastny and Wojtek Wolski scored late goals for the Avalanche, who had won four of their last five games.

"We try not to focus on the last five games," Stastny said. "We try to focus one game at a time. It doesn't matter about the last five games. Every game matters, especially when you play within your division. We have four points we just lost now. We just have to forget about them and look forward to Edmonton."