Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

Calgary Flames (11-4-2) at Toronto Maple Leafs (3-9-5), 7 p.m.

The Calgary Flames will try to bounce back from a close loss when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at Air Canada Centre in the finale of a three-game road trip.

The Flames rode a season-high, four-game winning streak into Friday's game at Buffalo, but were dealt a shootout loss by the Sabres. Calgary is still 7-2-1 in its last 10 contests and 5-1-2 as the visiting club this season.

Jason Pominville netted the shootout winner and Ryan Miller was solid with 25 saves to lift the Sabres to the 2-1 victory. Daymond Langkow had the lone goal for Calgary, while Miikka Kiprusoff recorded 32 saves in the setback.

The Flames were hoping to halt a seven-game winless drought in Buffalo dating back to 1996. Calgary also suffered its first loss of the year against the Eastern Conference, having won its first three games against them.

Flames forward Curtis Glencross will serve the final test of a three-game suspension tonight. He was handed the sanction for a hit on Chris Drury of the New York Rangers last Saturday and will be eligible to return Tuesday against Colorado.

The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, lost their second straight regulation contest on Friday after recording a point in the seven previous games. Since posting a surprising 5-1 win over visiting Detroit last Saturday, Toronto lost a 5-2 home decision to Minnesota on Tuesday and then dropped last night's close battle in Chicago.

Cristobal Huet made 29 saves and Troy Brouwer recorded the game-winner in the second period to lift the Blackhawks to a 3-2 victory over the Leafs at United Center.

Phil Kessel notched both goals for the Maple Leafs, while Vesa Toskala nearly matched the effort of Huet with 31 saves. Toskala saw his first game action since October 31 and fell to 0-3-2 on the season. Jonas Gustavsson is expected to get the start in net tonight.

"Vesa had an outstanding night. There was nothing he could do on any of the goals," said Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson. "He made a dozen great saves when we needed them (but) we made a couple bonehead mistakes and it cost us."

Kessel, who came over in an offseason trade with Boston, has recorded four goals and two assists in five games as a Maple Leaf. He failed to register a point in his previous two career contests against Calgary.

Toronto will try to earn just its second home win of the season tonight after going 1-5-2 at ACC so far this season. Following this evening's game, the Maple Leafs will head out on the road for stops in Ottawa and Carolina.

Tonight marks the first of two meetings between the Flames and Leafs this season. The clubs split a pair of games in 2008-09 with each team winning on its home ice. The Leafs have taken six of 10 overall in the series and Calgary has lost four in a row and 14 of its last 15 games in Toronto.