Miikka Kiprusoff makes 33 saves, Flames beat Senators 2-0

Kiprusoff, Flames blank Senators

CALGARY, Alberta — Miikka Kiprusoff made 33 saves for fourth shutout of the season and 34th overall, and Jamal Mayers and Christopher Higgins scored in the Calgary Flames’ 2-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Calgary has won four straight to match seventh-place Nashville with 77 points in the Western Conference playoff race. Nashville was at San Jose on Thursday night.

Mayers opened the scoring at 5:29 of the first.

Curtis Glencross won a race to a loose puck behind the net and slid a pass out front to Mayers, who snapped a shot under the crossbar behind Brian Elliott.

It was the third goal of the season for Mayers and first in 12 games since joining the Flames on Jan. 31 in the trade that sent Dion Phaneuf to Toronto.

Higgins scored at 9:05 of the third, converting a one-timer after a neat cross-ice set up from Ian White. Higgins has two goals in 11 games since the Flames acquired him the New York Rangers on Feb. 1

Elliott made 23 saves for Ottawa, coming off 4-1 victory in Edmonton on Tuesday night.

NOTES: After winning 14 of 16 games, Ottawa is 1-3-1 in its last five. … Ottawa was 0 for 5 on the power play, and Calgary was 0 for 3. … A pane of glass in the Ottawa end shattered during the pregame warmups and difficulties replacing the glass resulted in the start of the game being delayed by 30 minutes.