The last two weeks have been kind to the Flames, who surged up the standings with a five-game winning streak that ended two nights ago at Rexall Place in Edmonton. Calgary would have liked a win against the 14th-place club in the conference, but stumbled to a 3-1 defeat and saw several teams around them pick up at least a point before the weekend games began. During their five-game winning streak, the Flames picked up wins over teams playing very well of late: Montreal, Winnipeg, Minnesota, San Jose and Phoenix.

Calgary’s “Sea of Red” was in a fervor during that streak as rookie forward Sven Baertschi was recalled on an emergency basis from the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League. The locals called it “Svensanity,”playing off the instant fame of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin – and the 19-year-old did not disappoint in scoring three goals in the five-game stretch. With Lee Stempniak now back to full health and ready to return to the Flames lineup tonight versus the Blue Jackets, Baertschi was sent back to the Winterhawks on Saturday afternoon.

Despite missing key pieces like Mikael Backlund, Blair Jones and Chris Butler, the Flames have forged on and have received spectacular goaltending from Miikka Kiprusoff throughout the season. Calgary has flipped between youngsters Henrik Karlsson and Leland Irving for the backup goalie job, and for now, it appears to be Karlsson who gets the No. 2 slot with Irving being sent back to Abbotsford (AHL).

For the Blue Jackets, they will look for their third win over the Flames in the season series. Columbus has defeated Calgary both at Nationwide Arena and at the Saddledome so far this year.

G	Nash (24)	Iginla (31)
A	Prospal (33)	Tanguay (35)
PTS	Nash (47)	Iginla (62)
PIM	Dorsett (192)	Jackman (88)
+/-	MacKenzie (+4)	Tanguay (+9)
W/L	Sanford (10-18-4)	Kirprusoff (33-19-8)
GAA	Sanford (2.62)	Kirprusoff (2.36)
SVP	Sanford (.911)	Kirprusoff (.921)