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CALGARY, Alberta (AP) - Miikka Kiprusoff has been a huge reason that the Flames won their first division title in 11 years.
Kiprusoff made 23 saves for his second straight shutout to help Calgary clinch the Northwest Division title with a 2-0 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday night.
The Flames last won a division title in 1994-95 when they finished atop the Pacific Division before losing in the first round of the playoffs to San Jose.
"To be a low scoring team like we are and to get the number of wins we have, he's easily the biggest reason," said Flames captain Jarome Iginla. "The fans were letting him know tonight and us as players, we appreciate everything he's done this year, it's been amazing to watch."
Rookie Dion Phaneuf scored his 20th goal of the season on a slapshot from the point at 10:35 of the second period.
"Bryon Ritchie made a great screen and Chris Simon with the pass out to me put it right on my tape, luckily I got it through," said Phaneuf, who became the third rookie defenseman in NHL history to reach the 20 goal mark.
Tony Amonte scored an empty net goal with 46 seconds left in the game to seal the victory, but not before Kiprusoff came up with a number of great stops in the third period.
He jabbed out a pad to thwart Ian Laperriere cutting in alone early in the period. A few minutes later, Blake had a wide open chance from 10 feet out that Kiprusoff stabbed with his glove.
"That was a real good save. I tried to shoot to the off side up high and he didn't even make it look hard," Blake said. "He just put his glove out and snagged it. He was tremendous tonight."
The home crowd of 19,289 celebrated the hot goaltending by breaking into chants of "MVP" late in the game.
At the other end of the ice, Jose Theodore made his second straight start for the Avalanche and looked sharp making 23 saves.
The Flames will enter the postseason as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
"It doesn't matter who you play against really, everybody's so evenly matched," said Avalanche captain Joe Sakic.
Notes: Calgary finishes with a 30-7-4 record at the Pengrowth Saddledome. The seven regulation losses is the lowest total since 1989-90 when the Flames went 28-7-5. ... Kiprusoff started 39 of the 41 home games. ... Calgary won the season series 5-3-0. ... Two Calgary celebrities took in the game - Prime Minister Stephen Harper and PGA golfer Stephen Ames.
Other games on April 13, 2006
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