Eurolanche

Burned By Flames

Rene Bourque scored twice as the Flames handed Colorado its first loss in seven road games this season and beat the Avs for the sixth consecutive time. Kiprusoff evened his birthday record to 2-2 and ended the Flames' two-game losing streak.

Though the Flames came out firing on all cylinders, out-shooting the Avalanche 12-1 in the game’s opening 10 minutes, Colorado took the lead when Kyle Quincey scored on Colorado’s second shot on goal. With Bourque in the box for tripping, Erik Johnson’s blocked point shot ended up on the stick of Paul Stastny, who rang the post. Quincey, sliding down from the point, corralled the rebound and put it behind Kiprusoff at 10:50.

The Flames got even at 13:48 when rookie Roman Horak batted an Alex Tanguay pass over the glove of Jean-Sebastien Giguere from the seat of his pants. The goal ended a 125:19 goal drought for the Flames and prompted a timeout by the Avs, who were being outshot 16-2 at the time.

Calgary continued to roll in the second, taking the lead when Lee Stempniak recorded his first goal as a Flame at 3:57. The Phoenix Coyote acquisition backhanded home a Horak rebound.

Bourque made it 3-1 midway through the period on Bourque's power-play goal. Defenseman Anton Babchuk, back in the lineup after sitting out three games as a healthy scratch, fired a blistering shot from the point that was blocked before getting to Giguere. The puck squirted loose to Bourque, who put it in the yawning cage for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.

Kiprusoff got some help from the post later in the period. Working off the goal line, Matt Duchene executed back-to-back spin-o-ramas to open up room for himself to get to the front of the net, but the Avalanche’s leading scorer from a season ago struck iron, allowing the Flames to take their 3-1 lead into the third period.

Kiprusoff made right pad saves on rookie Gabriel Landeskog’s blast and Milan Hejduk’s rebound attempt early in the third to keep the margin at two goals. Colorado continued to press and finally beat Kiprusoff with 4:31 left when Ryan Wilson scored off a scramble. But Bourque wrapped up the win by hitting the empty net with 1:02 remaining.

Calgary improved to 2-1-1 on its current six-game homestand, which continues Friday night against the St. Louis Blues.

Source: NHL.com