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   Most times selection of 3 Stars in a hockey game is based on offense with strong goaltending also warranting a curtain call.  Rarely does defensive excellence by a skater get recognized.

   Saturday was one of those rare occasions.  Robyn Regehr was tabbed #1 Molson Canadian star.

   The big defense did get on the scoresheet with an assist on what would be the GWG, but it was the potential goals he saved that got him top billing in the Flames 3-1 triumph over Vancouver.

   Color commentator Mike Rogers felt Double R played a perfect game.  The shutdown blueliner wouldn’t agree to the perfect tag, but that’s why he’s so good at what he does. Always feeling their is room for improvement.

   There was improvement on this night.  While Regehr wasn’t the only reason for it, for the first time in 10 meanful games against the Canucks the Sedin Twins didn’t get a point.

   Regehr’s defense partner Adrian Aucoin played a big role in the feat. So did the forwards with their tireless fore checking and back checking.  Miikka Kiprusoff chipped making 3 saves against the twins, Daniel having all 3.

   Every once now and then, it’s suggested that the NHL should have an award for the best defensive defenseman.  Here’s another one. The Norris Trophy goes to the played judged to be the best defenseman, but that generally goes to an offensive type with decent-to-good defensive play.

   Regehr has 25 career goals in 8-plus seasons.  There have been a few Norris winners who had that many in one season.

   But the big defenseman isn’t about winning individual trophies.  He’s all about team and the trophy he really wants in the one donated many, many years ago by Lord Stanley.

Standing on the tarmak at the Vancouver Airport, late Thursday night, Mike Keenan was smiling, “That was our best effort of the season.”

He was referring to the 4-3 win over the Canucks in which the Flames twice came-from-behind.

The 2-games-old #1 line of Mike Cammalleri, Jarome Iginla and Matthew Lombardi again paid huge dividends.

LW Cammalleri scored the Flames first 3 goals notching his first NHL “hat trick”.

RW Iginla had a pair of assists.
But it was the red hot Curtis Glencross, who scored the goal that would be the Red Hot Replay.
On the game winner late in the 3rd Period, Glencross did it all. Jumping the ice he forced a turnover and then scored on the breakaway with nifty backhanded.

The Flames were constantly on top of the Canucks pressuring them all night.
Now Keenan’s crew goes for the sweep of the home-and-home series when they host the Canucks Saturday.
A win in regulation and they’ll be one point out of first place in the NW Division.

   The early-season importance of Thursday’s clash with the Canucks is reflected in the Flames travel plans of Wednesday.

   Generally, the Flames would fly to Vancouver in late afternoon following a practice at the Saddledome.

    Wednesday the club took a late am flight to the coast and practiced at GM Place. Then the day-of-game skate on Thursday allows two uses of the ice for familarity before game time.

    Just how important are the games?

    Considering its just the 23rd game of the season, its not a “must-win”  but with the potential for an 8-point swing in standing it is as big a game as one can get for the last week of Nov.  Saturday’s return game in Calgary will be in the same category.

    A Flame sweep would move them to within a single point of the NW Division leading Canucks. A pair of setbacks would make a 9-point deficit.

    Dustin Boyd is here in Vancouver but didn’t skate either day and won’t play Thursday. He’s sidelined with an upper body ailment.  Brandon Prust will be his replacement.  Wayne Primeau didn’t skake this am and is questionable with a lower body injury.  Andre Roy will be his replacement if Primeau can’t play.

    The Canucks could be without 2 of their regular forwards as well as #1 goalie Roberto Luongo.  Centre Ryan Johnson is definitely out with broken leg and a broken finger.  Steve Bernier has a shoulder ailment and is questionable.  Centre Alexandre Bolduc has been called up from the Manitoba Moose to replace Johnson. Defenseman Kevin Bieksa will return. He’s been out for 6  games with a broken foot. 

  Just before the Flames hit the ice for their pre-game warmup Tuesday night, GM Darryl Sutter was addressing our Fan960 audience during the pre-game show. He under-scored how impressed he was with the manner in which newcomers Mike Cammalleri, Curtis Glencross and Rene Bourque had grasped how he likes the team to play.

The trio didn’t hear the remarks but they were all in top form during the 6-2 triumph over LA.

Cammalleri, who Sutter got in a trade with the Kings, scored the first goal of the game getting a chance to play on the re-jigged #1 line with Jarome Iginla and Matthew Lombardi. He also had a game high 8 shots on goal.

Bourque, acquired in a trade with Chicago, ripped in the first and last goals of the game notching his first 2-goal performance as a Flame.

Glencross, a free agent signing after being with Edmonton and Columbus last season, had first 3-point game as a Flame – a goal and 2 assists.  Veteran Craig Conroy was the centre for Bourque and Glencross chipping in with 3 assists.

Sutter seemed to be somewhat unhappy with some of his high paid veterans over the first quarter of the season.  None were mentioned by name but Iginla may have been one of them. He scored a goal and assisted on another.  The captain’s goal total is now 12. The same as last season after 22 games.  He ended the year with 50.

Having played solidly in their last 4 games, winning 3 of them, the Flames now face NW Division-leading Vancouver twice. The Flames start the home-and-home set in Vancouver on Thursday 5 points off the pace.

   As the Stampeders continue their triumphant Grey Cup celebrations on Tuesday with a noisy ceremony at the Olympic Plaza, the Flames will quietly rest hoping to generate noise in the Saddledome tonight.

   The Los Angeles Kings make their first Calgary appearance on their best run of the season with A 5-2-2 record in their past 9 games.  The Kings improved play started after losing to the Flames, 3-2, in LA on Nov.1.

   Jason Labarera was the Kings’ goalie on that night. Now the Flames will get their first look at rookie Erik Ersberg. The import from Sweden makes his 10th straight start.

   The Flames face another week of playing at home on Tuesday, on the road Thursday and back home Saturday. Just as they did last week when they posted 2 wins over Colorado before bowing to Detroit.  This time Mike Keenan’s crew aims to win 3-out-of-3.  If they can pull off a win over the Kings and then sweep the back-to-back games against NW Division-leading Vancouver, the Flames would move from 7 points out of first place to being one points back. 

  The Flames have beaten the Kings 7 of the last 8 times they’ve played them.

   For entertainment value the “Gauge Game” was extremely high.  The missing incredient was a Flame win.

   The 5-2 final score didn’t do the evening justice.  The Red Wings scored 2 goals in the last minute and a half. Prior to that, the game was very much up for grabs.

   The Wings were the superior team, as advertised, but the Flames weren’t at all embarassed. Detroit grabbed a 2-0 lead midway in the 2nd period, but by the 7-minute mark in the 3rd the game was tied.

   Both team had chances and it appeared the team which got the late-game break would win. The Flames were able to keep the vaunted Detroit PP off the scoresheet, but it was a goal on a delayed Calgary penalty that broke the deadlock.

   A fresh Jiri Hudler was the man coming on the ice when goalie Ty Conklin went to the bench. Hudler shot from the face-off circle beat Miikki Kiprusoff cleanly.

    The Flames need improvement to become an elite team, but they proved they belong on the same ice as the Stanley Cup Champions.

   The Flame assignment for this week is taking aim at NW Division-leading Vancouver.  The Canucks are 5 points ahead of the Flames but this week the 2 play a home-and-home series on Thursday and Saturday. Before that the Flames host Los Angeles Tuesday.

   Grey Cup Game is Sunday. Gauge Game goes Saturday at the Saddledome.

   While the Stampeders seek the Grey Cup in Montreal, the Flames face the Stanley Cup Champions.

    Games against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions are always special, but with the Detroit Red Wings again an NHL force the contest gets added impetus. A chance to see how the Flames stack up against the best.

    The Flames didn’t stack up all that well against the Red Wings last season.  They did win the final meeting between the two, 1-0 but that was against an injury-riddled Wings squad on Feb. 22.  In the earlier 3 games, the Wings outscored the Flames, 13-6.

   Mike Keenan’s skaters are coming off two impressive wins against Colorado this week and, to a man, know they need to be on top of their game against the Wings, who have dropped just 2 games in regulation time out of 18 encounters.

    This is Flames 4th game against division leaders other than their own NW.  They have wins over Washington and Boston, but a 6-1 loss to San Jose last week.

A week ago today the Flames, after aborting a 2-day respite in Northern California, tip-toed back home following a 6-1 drubbing in San Jose.

Early Friday am they touched down back home with a 1-0 victory in Colorado, a most happy bunch.

It was the second win over the Avs in 3 days and while both were close to the final minute,they were thorough wins by Mike Keenan’s crew.

It also clinched the Flame season series over the Avs.  A significant feat considering just the 2nd series triumph over Colorado in 10 years.

Despite gloomy stretches, the Flames concluded their first quarter of the season with 4 more points than a year ago despite playing 2 more games on the road this time.

The 23 pts is one less than the 20-game mark in 2005-06 which was the season the Flames won the NW Division pennant.

Now the 2nd quarter commences with a major challenge on Saturday night.  A visit from the defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings.

The Wings show no signs of a Cup hangover having lost just 2 games in regulation out of 18 games.

   The Flames arrived in Denver in mid-afternoon on Wednesday and took another approach to preparing for what is becoming their weekly Thursday game on the road.

   It will be the fourth time the Flames have played away on Thursday. Earlier in the season, the Flames plan was to practice in Calgary and take their charter flight to wherever the game would be the next evening.  Since that didn’t bring success, Mike Keenan changed the routine last week.  He had the team arrive early in San Jose last Wednesday and practice after landing. The result was a 6-1 humbling at the hands of the Sharks.

   This time it was arrival and then head directly to an off-ice workout at the team’s hotel. Thursday night we get the result with the Flames trying to end a 4-game road losing streak and win their regular-season series from the Avalanche, even at this early date.

   General Manager Darryl Sutter has this theory that if the Flames can win their season series from the other 4 teams in NW Division that they’d have excellent chance to finish in first place.

   It has much merit.  The Avs have won the season series 8 of the last 9 years against the Flames. The one year they didn’t was 2005-06. That was the season the Flames ended the Avs 7-year hold on the divsion pennant.
  

  Perfect practice makes for a perfect result.

  That’s the theory and the Flames put it to test before excelling in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Colorado.

  After being hammered 6-1 in San Jose last Thursday, the Flames practiced for 3 consecutive days on getting the game plan correct.

  The result was as good a performance that the Flames have authored all season.  Despite such thorough domination of the Avalanche, the Flames weren’t certain of victory until there were 28 second left in the game when Jarome Iginla scored an ENG.

   The Flames outshot the Avs 51-23 but the game stayed close thanks to the brilliance of Colorado goalie Peter Budaj.  The 51 shot was the Flames most in a game since February of 1997 in a 4-2 loss at Pittsburgh.

    The Flames permitted the first goal and didn’t get it back until 6:53 of the 2nd period. Then it was 1-1 until defenseman Adrian Aucoin jumped in from the blueline into the high slot and ripping a drive beyond Budaj at 12:28 of the 3rd.

   Now the key will be developing some consistency.  The first test is Thurday in the rematch against the Avs in Denver.