Flames 1, Senators 0

OTTAWA (AP) -Jim Playfair knew he had a solid defensive base to work with when he took over as coach of the Calgary Flames.

Miikka Kiprusoff made 33 saves for his first shutout of the season and Jarome Iginla scored 11:25 into the third period to lead Calgary to a 1-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Kiprusoff, who led the NHL last season with a franchise-record 10 shutouts, posted the 18th of his career in the Flames' first win in Ottawa since Oct. 28, 1999.

Calgary evened its record at 2-2 despite being held to five goals in four games.

"Our team is structured from our goaltender out," said Playfair, who replaced GM Darryl Sutter as head coach on July 12. "When that's the structure of your team, you expect to win 1-0 games. Miikka gave us a chance to do that tonight."

Iginla put a backhander into an open left side for his second goal of the season when a loose puck slid to him after Kristian Huselius fanned on a shot from the slot.

"I was just trying to get in front of the net for him," Iginla said. "It looked like he just kept fighting the guy off and eventually he got it through and I was very fortunate that it was literally right on my stick. It was nice to see that slide in."

Ottawa has lost three straight at home since a season-opening 4-1 win in Toronto on Oct. 4.

"It was a perfect road game for us," Kiprusoff said. "I think it was a pretty good job from us to shut down a team with a lot of scoring power."

The Senators went 0-for-6 on the power play and have converted only one of their 25 opportunities with the man advantage through four games.

"We've got some great offensive guys and we're not putting the puck in the net right now, and we're getting tons of chances," Ottawa center Jason Spezza said. "It's not like we're not getting chances out there and that definitely makes you feel more frustrated."

Calgary went 0-for-5 in the game, falling to 1-for-30 overall.

Senators goalie Ray Emery made 27 saves in his first start of the season, including stops of Iginla and Daymond Langkow on a flurry of shots midway through the third.

"It was close right to the end," Emery said. "Kiprusoff played really well and we couldn't seem to bury it on power plays and some of the chances we had. They got the one off the scramble that put us down late in the game and that's a backbreaker when that happens."

Emery, who stopped 15 of 16 shots after relieving Martin Gerber for the third period of Thursday's 6-0 loss to Toronto, played every minute of Ottawa's 10 playoff games as a rookie last spring with Dominik Hasek sidelined by a groin injury.

"It's been a while since I got a start so I was excited to play," Emery said. "I felt a bit rusty as far as some things were concerned, playing the puck and some rebounds, but I felt that I competed pretty well and saw the puck pretty well. All in all I thought I played all right, it's just the other guy played a bit better tonight."

Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf sent Denis Hamel flying onto his back with a solid open-ice shoulder check at the Calgary blue line late in the second period after the Senators rookie had dumped the puck into the zone.

"What timing he has," Iginla said. "He gets a lot of those hits, but that was still pretty impressive to see."

Senators coach Bryan Murray left Daniel Alfredsson on the top line with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley for the game. The potent trio was reunited in the third period of Saturday's 4-3 loss to Buffalo, combining for six points on two late goals by Spezza.

Their production was curtailed against the Flames, though, as both teams failed to score through the first two periods, with Ottawa holding a 16-14 edge in shots to that point.

Notes: It was the Flames' second shutout against the Senators in 23 games regular season meetings. Andrei Trefilov had the other, a 10-0 win on Jan. 15, 1994. ... The Senators have yet to score on 17 power-play opportunities at home. ... Emery, who won one game in 2002-03 and two the following season, set a league record on Nov. 29 with his ninth straight win to begin his career.