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The Calgary Flames managed to beat a struggling Chicago team in the second of back to back games that saw the Flames lose yesterday in Edmonton. Tonight, Calgary repeated their hard nosed forechecking to slowly grind away the opposition.

I was at this game and in all honestly it was just as boring as the Edmonton game the night before. The only difference was this time the Flames a) scored on the PP, Iginla finally did something out of the ordinary and sat in the slot, b) scored on their chances. This isn't to say the Flames scored on all their chances, but they managed 3 goals and 1 empty netter against the Bulin-wall.

Lombardi scored off a nice feed from Huselius, much needed second line scoring is picking up, and Amonte potted a goal off a nice feed from Ritchie. Hardest working Flames would have to go to Ritchie, he was buzzing all night long. Nice to see that guy work hard and get some playing time.

Defensively the Flames are slowly returning to their true form. The 6 were solid all night and boring up front. The game was pretty much error free from a defensive standpoint. Iginla had two goals, Tanguay two assists, and the Flames push into 8th spot in the West. Not bad for a night's work.

Some pictures of the game including a Harvey the Hound dance are located in the gallery. The last minute is also on tape where Iginla scores the empty netter. Next up, Saturday against LA and Sunday against Anaheim. The Flames get away just when the bad weather rolls around. Look for Mclennan to get in for LA.

The battle of Alberta finally got on track with the same old same old. Actually this time, it was pretty boring. For almost the entire game the Oilers had trouble answering to the Flames consistent forecheck, but in this league you actually have to score occasionally.

All it takes is one break down in coverage, one bad save, to lose a game. That's what happened late in the third period when Sykora picked up a bad rebound all alone to put the Oilers ahead.

One would think the battle of Alberta would be a hard hitting affair. Nope, not this time though. The only penalties were for hooking, 7 of them, for Calgary. How many powerplay goals? None? You'd think the coaches would put together a package that involves more than dump and chase and point shot. It's been the same since 2004. Any team with half a coach would design something to take advantage of cheating forwards on the powerplay.

Anyways, blown opportunities (there weren't many) and inability to score dealt the Flames a blow today. The good news? 7 straight at home coming up which means a chance to get back on track in a hurry. Unfortunately, this was a 4 point game as the Oilers are now 5 points ahead of the Flames but we have 2 games in hand.

Next up, Chicago. I'll be at this game so look for some pics tomorrow. Giordano was called up as well, look for him to get into the lineup as Zyuzin took a puck to the foot in the 2nd and never came back.

Things are slowly coming together, slowly. The Flames put together another 'almost' solid effort to steal 2 points from a St Louis team that looked like 2005's club. From puck drop the Flames dominated the opposition in the sold out 'Dome.

It didn't take long for the top line of Iggy-Lanks (Langkow)-Tanks (Tanguay) to score off a pretty tic-tac-toe play. Both Iginla and Tanguay had 2 point nights. The trio almost reconnected on a similar play but Tanguay was robbed point blank. The refs did go upstairs but the results were inconclusive, Sanford's glove was behind the goal line, and you could see the puck, but it wasn't 'conclusive'.

The play exchange back and forth until the third period when Huselius of all people showed his penalty killing ability by breaking down on a breakaway to score a pretty top shelf goal against Legace who came into relief for Sandford midway through the 1st period.

The top line, get this, scored a powerplay goal to make it 3-0 after another pretty passing play where Tanguay spotted Ference sneaking in down low for the easy tap in. Miikka Kiprusoff was sharp again collecting his 3rd shutout of the season.

Next up, the Flames play against a tougher club in the Detroit Red Wings. Anything is possible for this club as they seek their season high 6th consecutive win this Friday.

The Calgary Flames are on another November winning streak thanks to Matt Cooke.  "I didn't see him coming, he hits hard, and he got me good there," said Iginla, who challenged Cooke twice, but said he didn't have a problem with the hit. "It was clean, but it doesn't make you feel good. I don't know if you want to say it woke me up, but it definitely gets you more into it."

Jarome Iginla single handedly sparked a comeback with a goal and an assist, and Kristian Huselius scored with 3:32 left to rally the Flames to 3-2 victory. Guess who scored the game tying goal? Rhett Warrener frmo a nice feed off Alex Tanguay's stick (who also added two assists) as Calgary won its fourth straight game.

Mclennan was though to be in line for another start (maybe St Louis? nah.) but Miikka Kiprusoff made 26 saves for the Flames, who are back at .500 after starting the season 3-7-2. Calgary was 4-7-2 in October last season before eight straight victories in November sparked a Division title.

Kiprusoff was back in goal one night after a 37-save shutout to end Anaheim's NHL-record of 16 games with at least a point to start a season. After getting beat twice in the first period against Vancouver, he stopped the final 16 shots, including several great saves off Markus Naslund.

Kiprusoff got a bit of a break when Marc Chouinard hit the inside of the post less than a minute before Iginla put Calgary on the board, and again when Matt Cooke hit the post on a spinning backhand from the side of the net with 26 seconds left.

Huselius scored the winner, one-timing a backhand shot through a screen, over Luongo's glove, and just under the cross bar after Matthew Lombardi skated around defenseman Lukas Krajicek and dropped the puck into the slot.

"Iggy had a couple of shifts where he took over and that was the difference," said Warrener, adding his first goal of the season was sweeter because it came after a giveaway led to the Canucks second goal. "It was nice to get that back I wasn't feeling too good, but the forwards made a nice play to just get it out there an I kind of whacked at it like I always do and it went in."

Yes, go Flames, that's the kind of hockey we like to see, albeit it was a lazy display in the first two periods.... NExt up St Louis back at home TUesday.

It's not the 7th game all over again, but we'll take it. The Calgary Flames snapped the unbeaten streak of the Anaheim Ducks with a solid 3-0 win. Miikka collected his 2nd shut out of the season, saving over 35 shots in a game that saw every Duck player crash the net. The referees were terrible with their inability to call over half a dozen intentional crease crashes, but hey, the joke of the league that is the NHL won't do anything till someone gets decapitated.

Enough complaining. The 1st period saw all the scoring, within 20 seconds. Langkow broke down the wing after a nice criss-cross with Iginla and got a lucky bounce off a deflection. 1-0 Flames. 19 seconds later Amonte continued his goal scoring streak with an identical goal he scored against Dallas on Tuesday.

After the win in St. Louis a number of fans cried, "ah, the ship is turning around, finally." Others, like myself, were more cautious, saying that after Dallas and Anaheim we'll get a better idea of what the Flames are like. Well November may prove to be a very nice month again for the Flames as they beat both Dallas and Anaheim, have a good chance against Vancouver tomorrow so long as Jamie M doesn't crap his pants in goal and then St. Louis on Tuesday. Both are winnable games so let's hope for another 4 points.

The defensive game looked shotty at times, Phaneuf had a nice fight, same with Prust, but over 15 giveaways in the 2nd period made their zone coverage look really really weak. Hopefully they start to put things together quicker, i.e. Warrener playing better, man that guy is struggling. Anyways, see you tomorrow, CBC, 8PM!

It was the Tony Amonte show tonight against the Stars. 2 posts and 2 goals were all Tony Amonte had to show for a nights work. Amonte lead the Flames to a 3-1 win over the Stars in a low scoring, high hitting, hardly any shots, affair.

The Flames only managed to get 15 shots on net all night, but kept the Stars to under 25. What was probably the best home game of the season, and Amonte's best game as a Flame, the Calgary Flames are certainly showing signs of 'turning the corner'. A win against Anaheim and a continuation of their forechecking identity will prove there are good times to come (mostly in the win column).

The first period was perhaps the best, but nobody would know. Amonte scored his first, the refs made bogus calls, Ference was hit from behind and proceeded to beat on Barnaby for an extended fight (see the gallery for the video). But guess what, Flames fans finally get a chance to see the Flames on TV but a full 10 minutes of the game was lost to watch the Oiler's game conclude, a loss against Montreal. Don't worry Flames fans, the same thing will happen to us on Thursday as there's another double-header.

Alex Tanguay left the third period with a knee problem (or was that a shoulder). Friesen and Zyuzin sat out with minor bumps and bruises from last game. Next up, a bigger test, undefeated Anaheim comes into town. Don't worry thought, you'll miss the first ten minutes of the game because the Oilers game before will go late.

The best start of the season finally, only 13 games in. The Flames went back to the bread and butter forecheck that has made them the team they are [were]. Lombardi opened the scoring in the first with a nice feed from Tanguay. But they weren't done there, Andrew Ference took a low point shot even strength and BYRON RITCHIE! scored off a nice tip. Hard work was the name of the game for the first period, however, stupid penalties and bad special team gave St Louis life with a PP tally late in the 1st.

The second period, however, is another story. For some reason Playfair thinks it's smart to play a rookie of 2 games on the PK. 5 seconds into the second Friesen goes off for holding and on the ensuing PP St .Louis ties it up after yet another failed clearing. The rest of the period was a bore.

Moving on to the third, scoring chances were slim, but when they did occur the Flames squandered them. The forecheck that worked so well in the 1st was gone in the 2nd and the 3rd. I'm guessing the coach said, "Ok guys, good 1st period, let's pack her in for the night." Luckily Jarome Iginla thought better, and continues to carry this team by scoring on the PP after hitting the post on the same shift. The rest of the team needs to pick up their game all around, a full 60 minutes of full Flames hockey has yet to be seen. (Kiprusoff played very well today.)
Dustyn Boyd was sent down today, Prust remains with the team. That meant McCarty (nie fight sticking up for Phanuef) and Lundmark factored into the lineup and Boyd (sent down) and Huselius of all people sat. Huselius hasn't been producing (nice SO goal though) and the coach sat him. Hope is just a one time affair cause I'd hate to loose him.

Btw, that was the quietest crowd I've hard all year, but man, you gotta love that pipe organ. Next up, a hot hot Dallas team visit the Flames, this one will be one TV for a change, 8PM start time.