Things are not going well for Miika.

Struggles in the West

This week will showcase two struggling Western teams looking to find their mark in the highly competitive Northwest Division. Calgary, with a record of 6-8-3, has lost five consecutive games and the Flames are just two points above last place Edmonton in the standings. The Flames have not lost six straight since November of 2002 and hope to keep it that way.

Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff has allowed two goals or less just three times this season. One cannot blame the Flames’ woes on Kiprusoff alone, since the Flames have scored a measly seven goals in five games this month.

Veterans Craig Conroy, Marcus Nilson, and Eric Godard have not provided any secondary scoring which is what Calgary is relying on. Owen Nolan was also kept off the scoresheet early in the season, but has managed to notch points in his last two games.

The Flames suffered an important 4-2 home loss to Edmonton on Saturday. Robyn Regehr and Alex Tanguay, with his 500th career point, scored for Calgary, who had difficulty finding the net with hot goalie Mathieu Garon between the pipes.

Calgary defenceman Robyn Regehr scored during a five-on-three power play in the third period to pull the Flames to within 3-2, but Edmonton killed off the rest of the man advantage and later added an insurance goal.

Kiprusoff has allowed at least three goals in each game of the losing streak, sporting an atypical 3.19 goals against average.

Minnesota with a record of 9-5-2 has demonstrated solid goaltending but has won only two of its last eight games, a skid one can partially attribute to the absence of key players Marian Gáborík and Pavol Demitra. Both players are on the sidelines thanks to leg injuries and are questionable for Tuesday's game.

Gáborík and Demitra each have just four goals, but without their offensive talents, the Wild are a different hockey team. Minnesota is 1-5 in the games Demitra has missed and 1-3 when Gáborík has been out of the lineup.
The Wild are also currently without forwards Stephane Veilleux (cheekbone) and Calgary native Wes Walz, who has taken a personal absence.

While Minnesota has played well early in the season, they have a horrible record in Calgary managing only three wins in 19 games vs. the Flames at home.

The Wild lost a 4-2 game to Colorado on Sunday, definitely showing some team weaknesses.

The Flames and Wild have split two games so far this season. Calgary has won six of their last 10 meetings, with four games going past regulation time.

The two struggling teams meet this Tuesday in Calgary.

500 For J.R.

Jeremy Roenick's 500th career goal was also the go-ahead goal in the San Jose Sharks' 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.

Devin Setoguchi, Torrey Mitchell, and Sandis Ozoliņš also scored for the Sharks, who beat the Coyotes for the fifth consecutive time. Evgeni Nabokov was impressive, stopping 22 of 23 shots.
Centre Steven Reinprecht scored for Phoenix, who saw their two-game winning streak and five-game road winning streak end.

Roenick took the spotlight with his goal, achieving his milestone with 13:25 remaining in the second period against Coyotes goalie Alex Auld.

Roenick wired a shot toward the net from just inside the blue-line. It appeared Auld had stopped the puck, but it dribbled free and slid across the line, giving the Sharks a 2-1 lead.

Roenick raised his hands and yelled as soon as the referee signaled the goal, followed by being immediately mobbed by his teammates.

The game was delayed a few minutes as Roenick skated in front of the Sharks' bench with the puck raised above his head. He pointed into the stands as the crowd gave him an extended standing ovation. Even a few of the Coyotes joined in tapping their sticks.

Roenick became the third American-born player to reach 500 goals. The nine-time all-star ranks 40th in goals and 44th in points on the NHL career lists.

Reinprecht gave the Coyotes a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Shane Doan picked off a bad pass and passed it to Peter Mueller, who skated down the ice before passing off to Reinprecht, who jammed the puck just inside the post on Nabokov's stick side. Setoguchi scored the game-tying goal early in the second period, with an assist from Joe Pavelski.

Mitchell scored his second goal in as many games to increase San Jose's lead in the third period. Ozoliņš followed with his first goal as a Shark since October of 1995, when the Sharks dealt him for Owen Nolan. Ozoliņš remains 20th on the Sharks' all-time scoring list.

Player Profile: Jeremy Roenick

Jeremy Roenick has played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks over the course of 18 NHL seasons and represented Team USA in several international tournaments. He became the third American (Joe Mullen and Mike Modano the other two) to score 500 goals on November 10, 2007, joining this outstanding list of NHL players with 500 goals.

Roenick was drafted eighth overall in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. In 20 games at the NHL level, Roenick scored a remarkable 18 points. In the playoffs, he helped the Blackhawks reach the second round in the 1988-1989 season. Roenick joined the Blackhawks permanently and helped the team improve 22 points to win the Norris Division season title. He scored 26 goals and 66 points. During the playoffs, Roenick helped the Blackhawks reach the Campbell Conference finals before losing to the Edmonton Oilers. He scored 18 points in 20 games.

Although sometimes very outspoken and critical, he has always impressed both fans and foes alike on the ice with his abilities and grit.
On April 11, 2007, Roenick made his debut as a Stanley Cup playoff hockey analyst on TSN, a cable sports broadcast network in Canada.
His career stats are nothing short of brilliant, boasting 500 goals, 680 assists for a total of 1180 points so far. He will undoubtedly add to that list this season.

Roenick has played in nine all-star games and he is a lock for the Hockey Hall of Fame.