Flames 4, Avalanche 1

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FLAMES LINE-UP Tanguay-Conroy-Iginla Huselius-Langkow-Moss Nystrom-Lombardi-Nolan Smith-Yelle-Godard DEFENCE PAIRINGS Phaneuf-Aucoin Regehr-Sarich Warrener-Eriksson GOALIES Kiprusoff (S) McElhinney SCRATCHES F Wayne Primeau (ankle sprain); F Marcus Nilson (concussion);  D David Hale (healthy)

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -After three loses to the rival Colorado Avalanche, the Calgary Flames had to take a stand.

"We can't afford to keep giving that team points," defenseman Robyn Regehr said. "We're chasing them down in the standings right now. It's important for us to provide them with nothing."

Owen Nolan scored twice, including an empty-net goal, to lead the Flames to their first win of the season over the Avalanche, 4-1 Tuesday night.

The Flames, who got the win despite mustering only 15 shots on goalie Jose Theodore, had lost three previous meetings this season to their Northwest Division rivals.

Calgary captain Jarome Iginla and David Moss, with his first goal of the season, also scored for the Flames. Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 20 shots.

Marek Svatos had the goal for the Avalanche, who lost their third straight on a four-game road trip.

"I thought across the board everybody worked hard and did what we wanted to do as far as everybody contributing from shift to shift," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. "I think we've got to build off today and get excited about the next game because if you do those things right you'll generally come up with something."

Colorado continued to rotate Theodore and Peter Budaj in net. Theodore made 12 saves in this one.

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Daymond Langkow fed Moss from the boards for a tip past Theodore's glove at 15:51 of the third period to make it 3-1 for the Flames.

Iginla's goal at 10:49 of the second put Calgary up 2-1. He beat Theodore low glove side on a pass through traffic from Matthew Lombardi.

Svatos beat Kiprusoff high glove side on a feed from Paul Stastny to give Colorado a 1-0 lead at 1:54 of the second period, but Nolan tied it 8 seconds later.

Theodore got a piece of his Nolan's slap shot from the left faceoff circle, but not enough to stop it from trickling across the goal line.

Colorado's power play on the road is the second-worst in the NHL, and the Avalanche were held scoreless on five chances with an advantage, including three in the opening period.

Nolan, signed as a free-agent over the summer, didn't score his first goal for the Flames until Nov. 8, but now has four in his last six games.

"I don't think I'm really doing much different, but the puck's going in," he said.

Notes: Calgary C Mark Smith was in the lineup for injured LW Marcus Nilson (concussion). ... Colorado called up forward Cody McCormick from the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters and sent down D Jeff Jillson. ... Avalanche D Karlis Skrastins was activated after missing 12 games with a shoulder injury.