Game Primer: Flames end road trip in Phoenix

The Flames and the Phoenix Coyotes meet in a final showdown on Valentine’s Day at the Jobing.com Arena in Glendale. Calgary won’t be bringing much love after only clinching one win against the Coyotes on October 25.
However, they are entering tonight’s contest with some confidence and better team morale after a 2-0 win over the Los Angeles Kings last Thursday.

"We have to win some hockey games on the road because our schedule favours road games from here on in, but if we get efforts like we did (on Thursday), we’ll find a way to win on the road," Mike Keenan said after coaching his 658th career win. "It’s not always the best looking game, but that’s what you have to do in this league."

A large part of their recent success is attributed to Miikka Kiprusoff. He was peppered with 40 shots from Anaheim and another 36 from LA. He also picked up his 30th career shutout.

"We left him out to dry again," Mike Cammalleri said about Kipper’s performance. We have to be better. We can’t put that much pressure on our goaltender but it just shows you how good he actually is."

The Flames only sprinkled 20 shots against Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, but Cammalleri tallied a power play goal (his 14th) against his former team, and Rene Bourque scored an empty-netter to finish the game.

Offence will have to work a little harder against Phoenix netminder Ilya Bryzgalov. He is 2-0-0 with a 2.50 goals-against-average against Calgary this season.

The Coyotes suffered a 4-3 loss on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks at home. They’ve lost eight of their last ten games and will be fighting hard for a win if they want to make the eighth place spot in the Western Conference.

The last time Calgary and Phoenix met was at the Dome on January 18. The Yotes snapped the Flames’ seven game home-winning streak with a 4-3 win. Cammalleri scored two of those goals and Matthew Lombardi notched one, but it was Yotes forward Mikkel Boedker who scored the game winning goal at 6:48 in the third period.

The Flames conclude a three-game road trip in Phoenix and will fly home after the contest to prepare meeting all three Northwest Division rivals. The Canucks will pay a visit on Tuesday, and then the Flames will head to Minnesota on Thursday followed by a game in Edmonton on Saturday.

For the Flames…

Iginla

All eyes have been on Jarome Iginla and his lack of goal production this season. He’s only scored two goals in the last 18 games, but has been contributing here and there with assists. Despite that, he is one point behind Al MacInnis for second place in Flames all-time points list.

For the Coyotes...

Lisin

Described as one of the fastest skaters by Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky, Enver Lisin scored two goals in the last two games against the Canucks and Dallas Stars. The 22-year-old Russian has ten goals and seven assists so far and ranks fourth in scoring for Phoenix.

Todd Bertuzzi needs three power play goals for 100
Jarome Iginla needs six goals for 400 and two points to pass MacInnis for 2nd on Flames all time
Miikka Kiprusoff needs nine wins for 200
Daymond Langkow needs five points for 600
Matthew Lombardi needs one assist for 100
Eric Nystrom needs five games for 100
Dion Phaneuf needs two games for 300 and eight points for 200
Cory Sarich needs five assists for 100

Brandon Prust (jaw) and Wayne Primeau (foot) are expected to return later this month. Jim Vandermeer (ankle) and Rhett Warrener (shoulder) are out indefinitely.