BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca

CALGARY -- A loss at home to the 29th-place New York Islanders always comes with a considerably more foul taste than your average setback. Especially when you just won four straight to climb back up to .500, as the Calgary Flames had done.

But when your next two games are against Western Conference powerhouses -- Wednesday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver and back at home against Detroit on Friday -- losing points at home to the woeful Isles seems particularly wasteful to these Calgary Flames.

"No matter who we play," began Jarome Iginla, ever respectful to the opponent. "We're trying to get above .500 in here, so it stings.

"We knew they (won in) Detroit. That they were 6-1-1, or something like that, coming in. We knew they'd be ready to work. We didn't match them."

Alas, as they pull out of Calgary for the Rocky Mountains and a day in Banff, Alta. -- with a 5-2 win under their belts -- the Isles are hotter than every team in the NHL in their past 10 games (7-2-1), save Vancouver and Tampa.

John Tavares had two goals and an assist in the first period, as he personally schooled the Flames duo of Jay Bouwmeester and Robyn Regehr on his goals. Rick Dipietro left the game in Period 2 with another tweak of his oft-injured knee, though he was seen walking post-game and shouldn't be out long-term.

"I don't think we're hot," said P.A. Parenteau, as his Isles ran their current skein to 7-1-1. "I think we're where we're supposed to be."

The confident Isles will attempt to leapfrog Edmonton into 28th place in the league Thursday. On Monday however, in a tong war between two 14th-place teams in their respective conferences, the Isles were clearly the better of two non-playoff teams.

"We showed up halfway through the game. The first 30 minutes was missed," said Calgary head coach Brent Sutter. "You're looking at two different hockey games. A game we can't play and a game we're better at.

"We weren't assertive. We didn't respect our opponent enough."

During their past five games, including the recent four-game winning streak that was snapped tidily by the Islanders on Monday, the line of David Moss, Tom Kostopoulos, and Tim Jackman has racked up seven goals and 13 points. Moss had both goals Monday.

As a team, the Flames have only scored 15 goals over that span.

Matt Stajan has gone missing in action here in Calgary, with zero shots in 12:58 Monday and a seven-game pointless streak. Rene Bourque's scoring touch has abandoned him -- he has one goal in his past 12 games.

Ales Kotalik has one goal in his 13 games this season, and Niklas Hagman -- who has never been the player here in Calgary he once was in Dallas -- has two goals in his past 21 games. Brendan Morrison has one goal in his past 21.

"Obviously we don't play the Islanders much, but the situation we're in … we have to have urgency every game," Sutter said. "There can't be a lack of it. I understand there are going to be nights that aren't perfect. But you've got to work through it."