How bad is the team's offense?

Calgary has lost five straight and is 1-6-1 in its past eight games. The Flames have scored 14 goals in that span -- but four of those were in one game. Calgary has scored more than three goals only twice in its last 24 games since Dec. 1, and had just one goal on 10 occasions.

In Monday's 9-1 waxing by San Jose, Robyn Regehr scored the lone Calgary goal. It was his first tally in 142 games. The Flames were outshot 46-22.

"I truly believe that we will find a way to turn this around and get back winning," Jarome Iginla said Tuesday. "Looking back we're going to look at that as a low point. We're pretty close to rock bottom and it's time to move up again. The whole game, our compete level ... we got down 2-0, 3-0 and they were feeling good. Around the net, we didn't clear pucks out, we didn't clear people out, we didn't compete the way we can. That's the truth. It was a terrible game all the way around to a man, starting with myself. To the older guys, to the young guys, we were terrible. Our compete level wasn't anything where it needs to be. We paid the price for that and got completely beaten, every part of it."

The Calgary captain is a prime example of the team's offensive futility.

Iginla has played nine consecutive games without a goal, his longest drought since a 10-game stretch from Jan. 8-Feb. 4, 2008.

"I want to get better and I want to be good for this team and I want to win," he said. "As far as the desire, it's there. Unfortunately, the results haven't been there."

He's not alone.

Rene Bourque, the team's second-leading scorer, has three goals and two assists in 11 games; Olli Jokinen has three goals and two assists in 12 games; Daymond Langkow has two assists in eight games; Nigel Dawes has five assists in his last 12 games; and Curtis Glencross has one goal and three assists in his last nine.

The power play is 1 for 29 since Jan. 5.

The Flames need to believe this is just a bump on the road for a team that scored at least three goals in 11 of its first 13 games.

"At times like this we need to stick together; that's the main thing," said Dion Phaneuf. "There's no one else that's going to get us out of what we're going through, but ourselves. … We need to get out of this together because we got ourselves into it."

The one plus has been the team's goaltenders, but even Miikka Kiprusoff and Curtis McElhinney can only do so much. Kiprusoff allowed six goals in two periods Monday, and McElhinney three in the third.

Saturday the offense found signs of life, yet the Flames lost 5-4 in Anaheim because McElhinney had a bad game. The Flames haven't won at Honda Center in 11 games since Jan. 19, 2004.

"We had the goal output for sure," McElhinney said. "It's disappointing, my performance. I would have liked a better showing. I feel bad that I let the guys down tonight. They scored four goals for me."

Yes, it's been that kind of stretch. 
 
COLORADO

The Avalanche has won four straight for the first time since Oct. 23-28 to stay atop the Northwest Division with 62 points, four better than Calgary and Vancouver. … The Avs are 7-3-0 in their last 10, 9-4-0 in their last 13 and 13-6-0 in their last 19.  Colorado is 8-7-2 against the Northwest Division, 4-0 versus Calgary and 4-7-2 against the rest of the division. … Chris Stewart has been playing well as of late. He had a goal and an assist in Monday’s 6-0 rout of Edmonton and did the same Saturday against New Jersey. He has five goals and three assists in his last six games. … Craig Anderson stopped 37-of-38 shots against New Jersey and 24 against the Oilers for his third shutout of the season. In winning four straight, he has a 1.44 goals-against average and .960 save percentage. He stopped 44 shots in a 3-2 shootout win over Calgary on Jan. 11. … C Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist Monday. It was his second two-goal night in four games, after scoring just three goals in a 16-game stretch. Duchene, who celebrated his 19th birthday on Saturday, leads NHL rookies in scoring at 15-18-33. The NHL's Rookie of the Month for December, Duchene is tied for second among rookies in both goals and assists. … Wojtek Wolski has one goal and five assists in his last two games. … D Kyle Cumisky had two goals against the Oilers to double his season total. … D John-Michael Liles had a goal and three assists Monday. He is 1-7-8 in his last six games. … Prior to Monday’s 2-for-5 performance, the Avalanche was 1-for-18 in its previous four games, but won three of the four. … Colorado is off until Friday against Nashville. In fact, the Avs will play just twice in a 10-day span from Jan. 12-21. … Milan Hejduk was to have arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday and will miss the Olympics. He’s competed in the last three Olympics, winning a gold in 1998. Hejduk has missed six games this season because of the injury, yet is fourth on the team in scoring with 30 points in 40 games. … Colorado’s AHL team, the Lake Erie Monsters, enter the AHL All-Star Break having won 11 of 15 games. Center T.J. Hensick is scheduled to compete in the AHL All-Star Classic Tuesday. He is 8-26-34 in 24 games. … Prior to Saturday's game, Claude Lemieux became the seventh player honored by the Avalanche Alumni Association this season. Curtis Leschyshyn is scheduled to be honored Jan. 31. … At the Jan. 28 game, the Avs Better Halves will collect diapers, wipes and cash donations to benefit The Gathering Place, which supports women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty. 
 
EDMONTON

Can things get much worse in Edmonton? The Oilers were humiliated 6-0 Monday in Colorado. Edmonton has lost eight straight and 15 of 16 to become the worst team in the league. "It's getting to the point now where I don't know how much more frustrating it can be," Shawn Horcoff said. "Tonight was not frustrating, it was embarrassing. We need to be a hell of a lot better than that. We were undisciplined in our system, lazy, didn't play with any energy. I don't know what kind of dose of reality it's going to take before we start realizing ... before guys start getting embarrassed." … The Oilers played one man short in San Jose Saturday. Gilbert Brule and Fernando Pisani had the flu, and Ryan Stone was out with a knee injury. … Patrick O'Sullivan has been a bright spot for the Oilers lately with 10 points in his last 11 games, including the club's first short-handed goal of the season Saturday. … Denis Grebeshkov also scored in the 4-2 loss. … An Oiler bust? G Nikolai Khabibulin underwent surgery Thursday in Los Angeles to repair a herniated disc in his back and is likely out for the season. “We had hoped it wouldn’t come to this (surgery), but while it wasn’t getting any worse, it wasn’t getting any better,” said GM Steve Tambellini, who added the team doesn't plan any short-term fixes such as Martin Biron or Jaroslav Halak at the expense of long-term gains. Khabibulin, who signed a $15-million, four-year contract over the summer, played just 18 games before his back problems flared after a Nov. 16 game. … Marc Pouliot was recalled from AHL Springfield Monday. The forward, who had missed all season after suffering from a sports hernia, was assigned to Springfield on a conditioning loan Jan. 12. In four games there, he had a goal and five assists. … The Olympic Torch Relay stopped at Rexall Place Thursday as a powerful symbol of hope in what has proved to be a frustrating season for loyal fans. … Edmonton plays six of its next seven at home. 
 
MINNESOTA

Petr Sykora and Robbie Earl were placed on waivers Tuesday. Both have 24 hours to clear and could be assigned to AHL Houston. … According to Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "The Wild and agent Allan Walsh negotiated a European assignment clause into (Sykora's) contract before the season if things didn’t work out. That means the Wild likely would let him exercise that clause rather than assign him to AHL Houston." … Sykora, who has scored at least 20 goals in 10 straight seasons, scored twice and added one assist in 14 games with the Wild. … In an effort to shake things up some, coach Todd Richards switched up some of the lines Monday in Dallas, yet Minnesota lost 4-3. Sykora, who was scratched for six straight games, played with Mikko Koivu and Andrew Brunette on the top line. Antti Miettinen played with Owen Nolan and Eric Belanger and Cal Clutterbuck joined Derek Boogaard and Andrew Ebbett on a line. … Koivu, Brunette and Miettinen were a combined minus-13 in Saturday's 6-4 loss in Phoenix. … The line of Kyle Brodziak, Martin Havlat and Guillaume Latendresse, the Wild’s most consistent trio, stayed intact. Latendresse was named the league’s Third Star of the Week. He had four goals, four assists and was a plus-5 last week. He had a hat trick in the Phoenix loss. Since Dec. 15, Latendresse leads the NHL with 10 even-strength goals… It is the first time in two years that a Wild player has been named a "Star of the Week." Niklas Backstrom was named the second star Jan. 20, 2008. The only other Wild forward to earn a Star of the Week honor was Marian Gaborik (four times). Backstrom has earned the honor three times while Dwayne Roloson and Manny Fernandez were each named once. … Backstrom earned his 114th win Wednesday, passing Manny Fernandez (2000-07) for most wins in Wild history. Backstrom, in his fourth season, reached the mark in 209 games; Fernandez played 260 games. However, Backstrom was pulled in the second period of Monday’s 4-1 loss at Dallas, two days after he allowed six goals in Phoenix. … Minnesota is 0-8-3 in Big D since a 3-2 win March 21, 2003. … Brent Burns has begun practicing with the team. He has missed 29 games with a concussion. … Clutterbuck leads the league with 192 hits, but has just 20 penalty minutes. … Ebbett left the Scottrade Center Thursday wearing a neck brace after being slew-footed by the Blues' T.J. Oshie. Ebbett, who said it was "a dirty play," missed five games in December because of a concussion. … The Wild and Canucks had three fights in the third period of their most recent meeting, including John Scott kicking the crap out of Alexandre Bolduc. Boogaard and Shane Hnidy were also involved in scraps. … Owner Craig Leopold addressed a number of issues in his latest blog. … Clayton Stoner has missed seven games with a groin injury. … GM Chuck Fletcher had his 2009 Stanley Cup ring stolen in a home burglary. Fletcher was the assistant GM for Pittsburgh last season. … Saturday is the annual Hockey Day in Minnesota, which features three high school games, the University of Minnesota against St. Cloud State and the Wild against Columbus, all on Fox Sports North.  
 
VANCOUVER

Six different players scored for the Canucks as they snapped a three-game winless streak by beating Pittsburgh 6-2 Saturday. Vancouver is 19-7-1 at home and 28-18-2 overall. "We were on a bit of a slide there but we had a couple of days to practice and make sure that we got back on the right track, so obviously this was a big game for us,” Roberto Luongo said. … Mikael Samuelsson, Jannik Hansen and Willie Mitchell scored on three consecutive shots before the second period was four minutes old to give the Canucks a 5-1 lead. … Henrik Sedin banked in a shot off Sergei Gonchar, and recorded assists on the Hansen and Mitchell goals to increase his league-leading point total to 67. … Alex Burrows has a season-high eight-game point streak. He’s scored 11 goals in the last seven contests. … Pavol Demitra made his season debut Saturday. He injured his shoulder in the playoffs last year, and required surgery in May and again in mid-October. … Mason Raymond starred at the team's annual Superskills competition on Sunday, winning the fastest skater (13.478 sec) and shooting accuracy competitions. Alex Edler had the hardest shot at 98.3 mph. … After the Wild took a 5-2 lead in the third period Wednesday, two fights took place in 17 seconds. First Darcy Hordichuk fought Derek Boogaard, who told the media that Hordichuk told him that "The coach is making us fight you guys.” Coach Alain Vigneault denied that. "At the end of the day, I probably believe Boogaard on this one. It wouldn't surprise me if Hordy told him: 'Coach told me I had to fight.' It must have been a real intellectual conversation. How smart can you be to go after a guy who is six-foot-[eight] like that, real strong, real tough? … When I played, you couldn't turn down a fight. The game is different now. For some players, it's tougher for them to find dancing partners. I'm sure they come up with some creative stuff, and this is just another one of those creative things." A day later Hordichuk could not recall the pre-fight specific chatter, saying Vigneault would not send a player to fight. "Guys talk [stuff] all the time. You just say stuff. … He'd just laid out two of our best players on the team [with bodychecks]. When a guy is 6-8, 275 pounds running around when it's 5-2, I have to respond. That's my role, that's my job. What else am I here for? You think I'm going to score goals?" … Alexandre Bolduc reportedly hurt a shoulder fighting John Scott. He hasn't played since. … Ryan Johnson, out since Dec. 22 with a foot injury, could return to the Canucks line-up as early as Wednesday in Edmonton. Check out his new blog.

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