Miikka Kiprusoff makes 29 saves, Flames beat Coyotes 2-1

Kiprusoff leads Flames past Coyotes, 2-1

CALGARY, Alberta — Miikka Kiprusoff made 29 saves and the Calgary Flames beat the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 on Wednesday night to move within two points of eighth-place Colorado for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

The Flames, winners of their last five home games, will face the Avalanche on Friday night in Denver.

Rene Bourque opened the scoring for Calgary with his 25th goal of the season, beating Jason LaBarbera on a power play in the second period. Ales Kotalik made it 2-0 early in the third, and Lee Stempniak scored for Phoenix with 6:52 left.

LaBarbera also finished with 29 saves. The Coyotes have one victory in their last five games after winning nine games in a row.

Bourque’s goal was the first power-play score surrendered by Phoenix in six games.

With Mathieu Schneider in the penalty box, Ian White pinched in at the blue line and fired the puck toward the net that deflected in off Bourque’s skate.

Kotalik made it 2-0, snapping a shot inside the goal post on a nice set up pass from the sideboards by Mikael Backlund.

Stempniak matched his career high with his 27th goal. Wojtek Wolski’s dropped the puck to the trailing Stempniak and he snapped a shot past Kiprusoff.

NOTES: Stempniak has 13 goals in 14 games since joining the Coyotes on March 3 in a trade with Toronto. … The Coyotes are 7-4-1 on the back end of back-to-back games. … Phoenix is 12-7-0 against the Northwest Division.