Flames-Maple Leafs Preview

Regular Season Matchup
	W-L-OT	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF
CGY	13-6-2	6-5-0	7-1-2	5-2-0	9-6-1
TOR	4-11-6	2-6-2	2-5-4	0-2-3	2-6-5
· Complete Standings

Team Stat Comparison
66	Goals	53
58	Goals Against	76
16	Power Play Goals	20
19	Power Play Goals Allowed	23
4	Shorthanded Goals	1
1	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	1
327	Penalty Minutes	344
16	Average Penalty Minutes	16

Goalie Breakdown
	GOALIE	GP	W	TGA	GAA	SO	SV	SV%
	Miikka Kiprusoff	19	12	49	2.61	1	519	.914
	Curtis McElhinney	3	1	7	2.98	0	64	.901
	Jonas Gustavsson	11	3	32	3.23	0	291	.901
	Vesa Toskala	9	1	32	3.83	0	212	.869
	Joey MacDonald	3	0	10	3.35	0	70	.875

Team Stat Leaders
G	Jarome Iginla 15	Alexei Ponikarovsky 8
A	Rene Bourque 14	Tomas Kaberle 20
PTS	Jarome Iginla 22	Tomas Kaberle 22
PIM	Brandon Prust 44	Colton Orr 59
SOG	Jarome Iginla 63	Jason Blake 69

So far on their swing through the Northeast, the Calgary Flames stopped one skid while failing to end a longer one. They'll have to bounce back quickly in order to end another stretch of poor play in a city where success has been quite rare.

Calgary closes its trip Saturday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who look to continue their nearly 15-year dominance at home over the Flames.

After a 1-0 win on Tuesday over the Canadiens to snap a four-game slide in Montreal, the Flames followed with a 2-1 shootout loss Friday to Sabres, dropping to 0-4-3 in their last seven visits to Buffalo.

Daymond Langkow scored 64 seconds into the game and Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 32 shots through overtime in his 400th NHL game yet Calgary failed to win its season-high fifth in a row.

"It was physical, and it was a fun game to be a part of," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "We were looking forward to this challenge to keep our string going because the Sabres have a good record. Unfortunately it didn't end the way we wanted it to."

Toronto has been a much more difficult destination for Calgary (11-4-2).

The Flames have lost 14 of 15 in southern Ontario after March 1994, including nine games played at old Maple Leaf Gardens. Ten of those defeats have been by one goal, and they've been held to three goals or less 12 times.

That wasn't the case on March 14 as Calgary rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to even the score after one period before falling 8-6. Olli Jokinen, acquired by the Flames 10 days earlier from Phoenix, had three goals and two assists.

Jokinen, who was picked up to provide a secondary scoring option to Iginla, had eight goals in 19 games following the trade but has had a much tougher time finding the back of the net this season. The Finnish native has only two goals in 17 games, putting him on pace for nine which projects as his lowest total in eight years.

Iginla had five goals in a four-game streak before facing the Sabres. He comes into Air Canada Centre with a run of three straight multipoint games against Toronto (3-9-5), totaling two goals and five assists.

Kirpusoff, who started last season's high-scoring affair versus the Maple Leafs, is 0-1-1 with a 5.56 goals-against average in Toronto during his career.

Ron Wilson's team returns home following a 3-2 loss at Chicago on Friday. Vesa Toskala -- making his first start since Oct. 31 -- stopped 31 shots to fall to 0-3-2, but his GAA dropped from 5.13 to 4.77.

"Vesa had an outstanding night," Wilson said. "He made a dozen outstanding saves."

Despite Toskala's solid effort, he's 0-1-1 with a 4.34 GAA at home in 2008-09. Rookie Jonas Gustavsson, who's allowed nine goals in four games this month, will probably get the start.

Phil Kessel scored both goals for Toronto against the Blackhawks to continue his surge after missing the first 12 games following offseason shoulder surgery. The former Boston star has scored all four of his goals during the last three games to move into a tie with Lee Stempniak for third on the club behind Alexei Ponikarovsky (7) and Niklas Hagman (6).

However, Kessel has failed to record a point in two career games against the Flames.