After failing to defeat the abominable Columbus Blue Jackets in their first two encounters of the season, the Calgary Flames stormed into Ohio and extended their win streak to a season high four games with a 2-1 shootout victory Tuesday night. Jarome Iginla continues to find ways to elevate his play.

PHOTO CREDIT - CalgaryFlames.com

Calgary - December 28, 2011 - After failing to defeat the abominable Columbus Blue Jackets in their first two encounters of the season, the Calgary Flames stormed into Ohio and extended their win streak to a season high four games with a 2-1 shootout victory Tuesday night. Jarome Iginla continues to find ways to elevate his play as he notched both the game tying and shootout winning goals on the evening.

Seeing how it was the first game back after a short lived Christmas break, the Calgary Flames leisurely skated through the first fifteen minutes of the game without applying a consistent threat to the opposition. They managed to escape that time frame relatively unscathed thanks in large part to the Blue Jackets playing a night prior in a losing effort to the Chicago Blackhawks. The best scoring opportunity generated in the period came off of the stick of Jay Bouwmeester when he launched a slap shot from the point that beat Columbus goaltender Steve Mason before striking the post.

We began to see the action pick up in the second as a result of a few undisciplined penalties against the Flames. Unfortunately four infractions against the team increased the Blue Jackets ability to take over the game, and shortly after a Cory Sarich elbowing penalty came to an end Derek Brassard put the home team on the board as he snuck one off of the post and past Miikka Kiprusoff. The period ended with Columbus outshooting the Flames by a 22-14 margin; however trailing by a goal on the road to the Blue Jackets is not at all a bad position to find your team in seeing as Columbus holds the dubious honor of holding the worst record in the NHL when leading after two periods of play.

Quickly you began to see why Columbus has such difficulty closing out close games, as they allowed Calgary the opportunity to get back into the game just three minutes into the final period. A major defensive breakdown by the Columbus defense left the most dangerous player on the ice alone in the slot as Jarome Iginla slid a backhander under the outstretched body of Steve Mason. Typically you would expect a home team to bounce back quickly after allowing a tying goal, but that was not the case as the Flames limited the Jackets to just three shots on net in the final twenty minutes of play. Lee Stempniak had a glorious chance to end the game in regulation but was foiled in close as he failed to place the puck in the top portion of the open net. For the third time in their last five road games, Calgary found themselves needing extra time to earn a result. The overtime session played out as excepted when both teams exchanged quality scoring chances for the entire five minutes but were unable to find a way to end the game. After struggling in his previous shootout attempts (7 of 28) Jarome Iginla netted the only goal from either team as Miikka Kiprusoff held steady in goal denying all three attempts fired his way.

Now with 40 points on the season (18-15-4) Calgary sits tied with the Nashville Predators for 8th in the western conference. The team will now fly to New York as they get set for back to back games against the Islanders and Senators beginning on Thursday.

Mark Letestu - Miss
Jarome Iginla - Goal
Rick Nash - Miss
Curtis Glencross - Miss
James Wisniewski - Miss

- It was announced that forward Alex Tanguay is now listed as week to week with an upper body injury.
- Olli Jokinen extends his point streak to seven games.
- Both Anton Babchuk and Brett Carson are on the road trip with the team, which hints that they may possibly be ready to return to game action in the near future.
- Calgary’s Penalty kill sits 11th in the league, while the Power play lands at 16th.
- In their last 13 games Calgary has an impressive 7-3-3 record.
- Rene Bourque is on pace for just 31 points this season, and has only managed three assists to this point in the season. Pass the puck Rene!