There’s a pretty good chance Miikka Kiprusoff won’t be selected a Molson Cup star on Saturday here in Columbus.  Only because he isn’t likely to play.

  But he sure played in Detroit on Friday turning all 40 shots for his second shutout of the season and his 8th star selection in 13 games.

  The Red Wings could only shake their heads in frustration as the goalie from Finland worked his brilliance again. The Wings actually got the puck past him twice but both were rejected by the referee. One when Dan Cleary interfered with Kipper in the goal crease and the other when the play was whistled dead before entering the net.

  The Flames scored the 3 goals that counted.  The first one by Jamie Lundmark 28 seconds into game. Another late in the first from Nigel Dawes.  Ollie Jokinen notched the final marker just 25 seconds into the 3rd.

  The win pushed the Flames past Colorado into first place in the NW Division. It was also the Flames 8th straight game with points on the road.  That is one shy of the club record established twice in 1988 and 1990.

  Saturday a point or points in Columbus would tie the mark in a place where they have lost 4-straight plus 7 of the last 8.  Brent Sutter wouldn’t confirm it but Curtis McElhinney likely will get the star giving Kipper a break. McElhinney last started on Nov. 4 at Dallas and was selected a star in a 3-2ot win. 

  Halloween didn’t work out so go for the Flames. They were tricked as the Detroit Red Wings treated themselves to a 3-1 win in the Saddledome on Oct. 31. 

  Now the Flames look for a better fate on “Black Friday” in Detroit.

  “Black Friday” is a United States thing.  Similiar to our Boxing Day. The day after the American Thanksgiving has been called “Black Friday” since 1986.

  Its the day right across the country that stores are full as shoppers eat up the bargains on the day where supposedly Merchants offer the best prices of any day of the year.

  Its called “Black Friday” because the financial statements of the storesare said to be in red ink (losing money) up until the 4th Thursday of Nov. but they get the statements in the black (making money) starting today to Christmas.

  In tune with the “Black Friday” theme, the Flames find themselves in the black — they have a playoff position.  The Red Wings are in the red — not in a playoff spot.

  Both teams have seen their scoring production go down over their last 5 games.  The Flames have been 2-2-1 over the 5 contests scoring 13 times.  The Red Wings have scored just 6 goals in the 5 matches while sporting just 1 win.

  Injuries have hit the Wings hard with Kronwall, Lilja, Franzen, Filppulla and Jason Williams all out for tonight and not slated back for a while.

  Rene Bourque is the Flames only injured player.  He’s missed 3 games with an undisclosed injury but started skating this week and made the trip to the Motor City for the start of the 6-game road trip.

  The Flames take a 7-game point streak into the game.  The club record is 9 established twice in 1988 and 1990.  Getting a point or points tonight and Saturday in Columbus would tie the record.

  The Flames have had their way so resoundingly over the past four seasons, it’s puzzling as to why they are so close to the .500 mark in the Pengrowth Saddledome.

  Especially when they have been so strong on the road with a 7-1-3 slate, one of the NHL’s best.

  Wednesday against Phoenix, the Flames play at home for the last time in two weeks seeking to end a skid of 4 losses in 5 games in the ‘Dome.  That has brought the teams’ overall record at home to 6-5.

  Over the past 4 seasons, the Flames have averaged just 9 losses over the 41-game home slate.  Now they have over half of those losses after just 11 games.

  In the years since the 2004 playoff run many visiting players in The Hockey News and polls in other publications called the Saddledome the toughest building in the league in which to play.  They noted the fan noise as a factor and the team’s physical style of play.  Neither of which have been up to standard thus far. 

 The noise, while pretty good, hasn’t been at the same decibel level for regular-season games in the time immediately after ’04.  The Flames, on the ice, have been more physical playing on the road.

  Now its a Phoenix team in town that won both times they visited Calgary last season and have won 3 of the last 4 here.

  Just before hitting the road for 6 games, the Flames don’t want their home loss number to hit 6.

  The last time the Flames swept consecutive games in Los Angeles and Anaheim, GM Darryl Sutter was coach the Chicago Blackhawks. His brother Brent, now Flame coach, was playing for him. 

  Jarome Iginla was a 17 year old playing his first season with Kamloops Blazers the WHL.

  The oldest current Flame player, Craig Conroy was getting ready to graduate from Clarkson University.

  That was Feb. 2 and 5 of 1994.  The Flames won 4-2 at Anaheim and then a 5-4ot decision in LA.

   Now 14 years later the Flames have a chance to Sweep SoCal again.  Saturday afternoon’s 5-2 triumph in LA set the stage for Monday’s clash in Anaheim.

   Where the Ducks play is a stretch pass from Disneyland – the happiest place on earth.  Its been anything but a happy place for the Flames since 2004.  That’s the last time the Flames won in Anaheim – 9-straight losses – and the only win in the past 19 visits.

   The current Ducks have lost 5 of their last 6 games and are the worst team in the West with a 7-10-3 slate.  Its a far cry from a team that had so much success earlier this decade with 2 trips to the Stanley Cup finals including the 2007 title and trip the West final last May before bowing to Detroit.

  Just as the longer than usual bus journey from LA to Anaheim commenced, Flames Media Relations ace Sean Kelso handed out the game sheet summary from the Flames 5-2 conquest of the Kings.

  Casually glancing at all the statistical story of the game as the traffic on the freeway built up, the eyes fixed upon the 3 Star segment. One look, two looks, a third look and sure enough the name Jarome Iginla was missing.

  How could it be? Iginla was easily the best player on the ice and if that wasn’t noticed by the selector (s) a look at the scoring column should have given the Flame captain at least one of the 3 star spots. 

  After all, it very, very rare that a  player scores 3 goals in a game and isn’t picked as a star.

  Fortunately, our Fan960 colorman Mike Rogers in picking the Molson Cup 3 Stars had Iginla as first star.

  The captain started the scoring 13 seconds into the game before adding one in each the 2nd and 3rd periods.  Not only that but Iginla was a force all afternoon, in all areas.  True, he sat in the penalty box twice in the 3rd period of a close game but those were infractions brought on by his aggressive play.  His penalty killing teammates thought so much of the captain’s work that they killed off both penalties and got a bonus when Daymond Langkow scored a SHG which turned out to be the game winner.

  The “too casual” public comment coach Brent Sutter made about his team after the 7-1 drubbing to Chicago, got the players attention.  Some stated they do make their teammates accountable when things need to be pointed out and just to prove it, Saturday’s performance was strong from all areas with the starring captain leading the way.  Coach Sutter was impressed with the team’s workmanship afterwards.

  By the way, the 2 Flame stars picked in LA were Langkow and Curtis Glencross. They both played well, but not better than Iginla.

  Its easy to see why Brett Sutter owns two Stanley Cup rings when he’s upset with a team on pace for 105 points.

  The coach made it abundantly clear after Thursday’s 7-1 thumping at the hands of  the Chicago Blackhawks that he wasn’t pleased. 

  Not just with the Blackhawk game but in an overall assessment of the Flames first quarter of the season.

  Thursday was merely the statement game, exposing the team’s shortcomings on an evening when Miikka Kiprusof has a rare off night.

  Correctable shortcomings the coach has been preaching to his troops from the outset.

  The current Flame team is talented enough to make the playoffs. If they remain on track for 105 points that would likely get them first place in the NW Div.

  But, Sutter feels his team is capable of more and isn’t about to accept ”that’s good enough” when more is on the line.  That’s why he’s sipped from the Stanley Cup twice as a player and why he has a Memorial Cup and a couple of World Jr. title as a coach. 

  His biggest challenge as Flame coach is to change the “that’s good enough” malaise that has plagued the team for a while.

  …And its possible to change. The coach wants it to start Saturday afternoon in Los Angeles.  

  It’s one of the great Flame mysteries.  Why does Jarome Iginla get off to slow scoring starts?

  Every season the players report to camp, the captain is always one of the top 5 in conditioning and in a number of years #1.  So its not a conditioning issue that his October’s see him score so few goals.

  Iginla, now age 32, can’t explain it, but he was pleased when Nov. 1 hit.  “Now that the calendar has turned from October to November hopefully things will change”, noted the captain prior to the team’s first Nov. game in Dallas.

  They did change. He promptly responded with a 2-goal game on including the GWG in OT.

  He’s scored at least one goal in 6 of the 7 games the Flames have played in the second last month of the year.  That’s 8 goals and a total of 12 for the season.

  With the Flames hitting the 20-game mark Thursday hosting Chicago, Iginla’s 12 goals represent the second best start of his 14-year career. The only season better was his best.  In the 2001-02 season the RW has 18 goals after 20 games on his way to an NHL leading 52.

  Each of the past 4 seasons Iginla has had 11 goals after 20 games including the ’07-08 campaign when he scored 50 goals for a second time.  In ’03-04, the year the Flames went to the Cup final, the captain had only 4 goals after 20 games and ended with 41 plus a league leading 13 more in the playoffs.

  It was similiar to many other games, yet dis-similiar as for the 2nd time this season the Flames lost at home 3-2 to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.

For the first time in 9 games and only the 4th time in 19 games the Flames didn’t score.  For the first time in 14 games Brent Sutter’s team was behind after the first period. For only 5th time in 19 outting they were behind after 2 periods.

It was similiar in that the Flames let a lead slip away for the 8th time in 10 games and for the 11th time overall.

The Flames had the lead for such a short amount of time it could easily have been forgotten.

They held the edge for 42 second in the 2nd period at 2-1.  The Avs lead 1-0 after the first period before Jarome Iginla’s 10th goal in 11 games tied the count. Then Rene Bourque extended his point streak to 5 games scoring a SHG.

Often SHG are back-breakers for the team giving them up.  But not Colorado on this evening. The Avs stormed back with two goals in 1:06 late in the 2nd period to end the night’s scoring.

For only the fourth time the Flames outscored an opponent. It was a huge 36-24 edge but what goalie Craig Anderson didn’t stop, his teammates did in front of him.

The Flames missed an opportunity to vault over the Avs into first place in the NW Division.  Now they are back to being 3 points off the pace.

  Twenty days ago Colorado Avalanche rolled into Calgary as the NHL’s best and remained on top rallying to beat the Flames, 3-2.

  That gave the Avs an 8-point lead over the Flames for first place in the NW Division.

  Much has changed as the Avs return to the Saddledome Tuersday.  Colorado is no longer the league’s best but they are still on top in the NW Division.

  Tonight, the Flames look to pass the Avs, who they now trail by a single point.

  After a 10-1-2 start, the Avs are 2-4-2 since including losses in their last 3 games.

  The Avs goalie Craig Anderson is no longer the NHL’s leading puckstopper and was pulled from his last game on Saturday in the 8-2 home loss to Vancouver.

   The Flames and their goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff are now in the “hot” category.  The Flames have collected points in their last 6 games with 5 wins and a single shootout loss.  Kiprusoff, who has been a Molson Canadian star in 5-straight games, has allowed only 5 goals in those 5 games. Incrediably he was not selected one of the NHL’s stars of the past week.

   Curtis Glencross returned after sitting out a 3-game suspension.  He practiced Monday with Ollie Jokinen and Jarome Iginla.  A spot Freddy Sjostrom had in his absense.

   Which forward sits Tuesday makes an interesting decision for coach Brent Sutter. The Brandon Prust-EricNystrom-Dustin Boyd line was solid Saturday in Toronto.

   Without playing a single complete game, the Flames joyously returned home with 5 of a possible 6 games during their week in the east.
   The reason?  Miikka Kiprusoff has 3-straight complete games.  Based on earlier games, it could be said that Kipper had an off night on Saturday n Toronto.
  After allowing just 3 goals in his previous 4 games, Kiprusoff allowed the Maple Leafs to get 2 on him.  But it may have been the goalkeeper’s best game.  He faced 40 shots — half of them in a 2nd period where the Flames were outshot, 2o-4.
   That’s where Kiprusoff saved the night not allowing the Leafs to get the game tied after the Flames had built up a 3-1 lead after the first period.,
   Although the team is riding a 6-game point streak (5-0-1) Brent Sutter was sounding alarms in the aftermath of Saturday.
    The coach wants a positive consistency to the club’s play.  His concern is that while the results are positive enough to get the team to within one point of first place Colorado in the NW Division, the lack of full 60 minutes of solid play could comeback to hurt the team later.
Jarome Iginla had 2 more goals in Toronto giving him 11 now on the season. It was his 2nd two-goal game of the campaign and 66th of his career giving him 74 multi-goal games. That 27 more than Joe Nieuwendyk and Theoran Fleury, who are tied for 2nd.

But the story was Kiprusoff. After setting a club record with 4-straight first star selections, he was #2 on Saturday. The Flames record for consecutive game Molson Canadian star picks is 6 held by German Titov. Kipper likely gets a shot at tying the standard on Tuesday at home against the Avs in a big first place tussle.