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Goal oriented? Avalanche shut out for fourth time in past eight games
Updated: Sunday November 11, 2001 3:37 AM
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- The Calgary Flames chalked up another victory Saturday night with Roman Turek and Jarome Iginla in the starring roles. Turek made 36 saves for his third shutout and Iginla scored his league-leading 14th goal as Calgary extended its unbeaten streak to six games with a 2-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche. "Unbelievable win for us, especially against the Stanley Cup champions," said Turek, who leads the NHL in wins (12) and is tied for the lead in shutouts (three). With the Flames leading 1-0 after a second-period goal by Denis Gauthier, Iginla whipped the sell-out crowd of 17,409 into a frenzy when he fired a 20-foot shot past Patrick Roy with 3:53 remaining in the third period. The goal extended Iginla's point-scoring streak to 11 games (13 goals, 10 assists) and increased his league-leading point total to 28.
"This was a real big win for us," said Iginla, who began the day five points ahead of Jeff O'Neill of the Carolina Hurricanes. "We knew Colorado would be pushing and they were, they were good tonight. But Roman stood on his head and made some big saves which gave us a chance to get that go-ahead goal." Calgary (12-2-1-2) moved into sole possession of second spot in the NHL's overall standings behind the Detroit Red Wings (14-3-0-1). Colorado (7-10-1-0) is now winless in its last six (0-5-1-0) and have scored only four goals during that span. In addition to being shut out two straight games, the Avalanche have now been shut out five times on the season. "We had a pretty good performance but right now we simply can't buy a goal," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "We're doing lots of good things but it's simply not working our way." Gauthier's second straight game-winning goal came with 3:50 left in the second period. It was Gauthier's third goal of the season, tying his career-high set three years ago. Until Gauthier's goal, Colorado held the edge in play, but like so many other teams this season, they were unable to solve Turek. Turek's most impressive sequence was a trio of close-in saves five minutes into the second period off two of Colorado's most dangerous snipers. After getting a blocker on Milan Hejduk's backhander, Turek stuck out a pad to stop Joe Sakic on the rebound then threw up his arm to stop Sakic again on a second rebound. "That third one was lucky, it just got a piece of my arm," Turek said. "But when you're going to get a shutout and make 36 saves, you're going to have to be lucky on some shots because some pucks you just have no idea where they are." The only time the Avalanche did manage to get the puck past Turek, they couldn't sneak it past the video goal judge. At 7:54 of the second, Steven Reinprecht's goal was waived off after a replay of the skirmish in front showed the puck was gloved into the net.
"When things don't go your way, you gon't get those calls," Hartley said. "In my book, they should take away those goal judges, it's unbelievable." Roy is winless in his last seven starts (0-6-1) and he remained stuck at 199 wins in his Colorado career. The NHL's all-time winningest goaltender with 488 is attempting to become the first to win 200 games for two different teams. Notes: Calgary was without defenseman Derek Morris (back). ... Among the Colorado scratches were right-winger Dan Hinote (finger) and left-winger Alex Tanguay (sinus infection). ... Flames center Rob Niedermayer hasn't scored in 13 games. ... Rookie right-winger Brian Willsie is the only Avalanche forward to have scored in Colorado's last six games. He has three goals over that span.
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