Spector on Flames: Flaming out

Brent Sutter is aging in Calgary, a coach who can’t get his team up anymore. Near eighth spot in the West, of course.

He stood near the Viagra sign.

Miikka Kiprusoff has given the Calgary Flames years and years of trouble-free operation, firing up 75 nights a year as the busiest goaltender in the National Hockey League over the past five seasons.

He is the only NHL goalie to have played in more than 400 games since the lockout of 2004-05 (409 games), and came family-priced from San Jose, costing a second-round pick eight years ago. He simply runs and runs, no service needed.

He stood next to the Honda sign.

We can only imagine what Sutter was imparting to his struggling netminder during their tête-à-tête post-practice in Ottawa. We can only hope Sutter was apologizing, not demanding more from a guy who has always given the Calgary Flames everything he had – which equates to Top 5 goaltending in the NHL.

“Miikka knows he needs to be better,” Sutter told reporters after practice Thursday. “We all know he can be better. We’re going to do everything we can to help him get through it.”

We would hope so. Considering that, wherever Kiprusoff’s game has gone of late, Sutter has done everything he could to put it in that state.

Here is an organization that has ridden its No. 1 netminder harder than any other team in the National Hockey League. And a coach who has gone to the whip since the day he landed in Calgary at the beginning of last season, playing Kiprusoff in 109 of the 125 Flames games Sutter has coached.

At age 34, the guy we like to call Turku Broda has a bad stretch of games. But there was Sutter the other night in Carolina, throwing him under the bus.

“Hey, he’s accountable like everybody else,” Sutter said. “He’s battling it right now . . . he’s got to work himself through it. And Kipper will, but it’s that time of year when we can’t afford to not have good goaltending.”

The fact is Calgary, more than most teams, has never been able to afford anything less than All-Star calibre goaltending. Going right back to their Cup run of 2004, this is a low-scoring team that has won dozens of one-goal games for no other reason than it had the better goaltender on the night.

When it comes to the Flames, more often than not you can turn out the lights once the opponent gets to three goals. It is a rare day in Calgary where the skaters win one for the goaltender, not the other way around.

You would never hear Kiprusoff talk about that, but is his latest stretch of below average play a sign that – with his team now 10 points south of the playoffs – he has tired of being Brent Sutter’s Honda Accord?

“It’s always the coach’s call,” Kiprusoff told reporters who asked if he would start against the offence-poor Senators. “I feel good to go whenever they want me to play.

“I’ve had some bad games before too,” he added. “That’s just part of goaltending. I just have to bounce back, you know. Work harder in practice and get ready for the next one.”

On a Flames team that is suddenly staring a lottery pick in the face, Kiprusoff is tied for 11th in the NHL with 16 wins. His goals against (2.73) is 28th, and his saves percentage (.901) is second page material, ranking 33rd.

The odometer, clearly, tells us that the odd four-goals-on-eight-shots night is likely. It is guaranteed, however, if Sutter keeps the pedal on the metal.

There are plenty of miles left in the trusty Finn. Then again, that all depends on who is behind the wheel.