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Florida’s Radek Dvorak misses the net in the second period with Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff at his mercy. (Lynne Sladky/Associated Press)

The Calgary Flames were quick on the draw on Friday night, parlaying two clean faceoff wins into power-play goals as they opened a road trip with a win over the Florida Panthers.

Mark Giordano’s power-play blast late in the second held up as the winner in the 2-1 victory.

Ales Kotalik opened the scoring late in the first with a power-play goal, his first marker in a Calgary uniform.

The Flames have won consecutive games for the first time in exactly a month and have points in five of the last six (3-1-2) after a marathon losing streak for much of January.

Calgary moved into a seventh place tie in the Western Conference with Nashville. The Flames continue their three-game road jaunt Saturday in Tampa Bay.

Kotalik is one of a half-dozen new forwards acquired by the club in recent days, but Calgary it has been defensive play that the Flames have allowed to hone against against the likes of Carolina and Florida, two Southeast teams that have struggled to score.

The game pitted two of the NHL’s workhorse netminders, Miikka Kiprusoff of the Flames and Tomas Vokoun of Florida, against each other. Vokoun would be the busier, with Calgary holding a 40-13 shot advantage.

The Panthers displayed that inability to score again on Friday. While the shots weren’t in their favour, they had some of the best scoring chances but could not bury them.

The teams traded opportunities early. Niklas Hagman was stopped by Vokoun, while Florida forward Stephen Weiss just missed the right side of the net behind Kiprusoff.

Kiprusoff was tested at the side of the net later in the period by Kamil Kreps, a play in which forward Rostislav Olesz may have been too generous in passing to his teammate.

Vokoun, starting his 17th consecutive game, would stop Hagman in close and Jay Bouwmeester from the point late in the period.

Those two Flames would get assists — Hagman his first in a Calgary uniform — on Kotalik’s sharp-angle goal on the power play with just nine seconds left in the first period. Kotalik’s shot went off a Florida defenceman and past Vokoun.

New addition Matt Stajan started the play with a faceoff win.

Cory Sarich, who took six penalty minutes in Calgary’s last game, was in the box early in the second when Florida tied the game. With the puck bouncing wildly in the slot, Dennis Seidenberg swooped in from the point to one-time a shot high to the glove side past Kiprusoff.

Calgary would outshoot Florida 15-4 in the second but the Panthers would whiff on a pair of 2-on-1 plays that could have changed the momentum of the game.

Olesz missed a half-empty net on a setup from Michael Frolik, while Radek Dvorak shot just wide on a 2-on-1 short-handed opportunity.

Not long after the Dvorak miss, Calgary’s Daymond Langkow won the draw cleanly to Ian White, who registered his second assist as a Flame by feeding Giordano for a one-timer at the 17:18 mark of the second.

Giordano has nine goals for the Flames.

Calgary outshot Florida 10-2 in the final period, but Frolik would beat Kiprusoff with a shot early in the period, ringing it off the post.

With Sarich in the box yet again midway through the frame, Chris Higgins created a turnover for Calgary and tested Vokoun with a backhander.

Flames captain Jarome Iginla would take a Stajan pass and unleash a slapshot that made a giant thud sound on Vokoun’s pad.

It was the only meeting this season between the Flames and Panthers.

Another contest for Calgary on Saturday means they will play back-to-back games for the 12th time this season. They are 6-4-1 in the back end of consecutive games.

New startup company Kwedit Inc. is making it easier for users of free online games like Farmville who don’t have credit or debit cards to pay for the virtual goods sold in such games using cash or third-party payments.

The California-based company on Thursday launched a payment system called Kwedit Direct that allows users in the U.S. to pay for their digital purchases after the fact by mailing in cash, paying the bill at a 7-Eleven store or getting a friend or family member to pay on their behalf through a social payment network called Pass the Duck.

The payment system is intended for so-called social games that are free to play but charge a small amount for extra features that are key components of the virtual worlds at the heart of the games. In Farmville, for example, which, with 73.8 million users daily, is the most popular game on Facebook, players can purchase virtual farm animals.

The Kwedit system is available on more than 100 websites so far, including FooPets and PuzzlePirates. Many such sites are popular with children, who don’t own credit or debit cards.

But Kwedit CEO Danny Shader says that even among adults, 25 per cent of U.S. households don’t have credit cards, and of the remaining 75 per cent, many prefer paying cash.

‘Virtual credit system for the virtual world’

Users of the Kwedit system make what the company calls a Kwedit Promise, which allows them to play the game and pay for their virtual purchases later using one of the three Kwedit Direct methods of payment. (The retail option is so far only available at 5,800 7-Eleven stores in the U.S.)

The system works similarly to regular credit: users receive Kwedit Limits and Kwedit Scores and are rewarded for making good on their payments.

Conversely, if users don’t keep their promise, they will be given a lower Kwedit Score, which will determine whether they can continue to play.

“[It's a] virtual credit system for the virtual world,” said Shader, although he acknowledged there are people who will not follow through on their promises.

The company hopes to eventually offer its services in Canada.

According to InsideVirtualGoods.com, U.S. sales of virtual goods reached $1 billion US in 2009 and are projected to grow to $1.6 billion in 2010.

Bronze medallist Steve Podborski is greeted by supporters as he skis down Whistler Mountain with the Olympic torch on Friday. (CBC)

The Olympic flame arrived to an emotional welcome Friday in Whistler, B.C., the resort community that will soon welcome the world to the Winter Games.

Just days before it lights the cauldron at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, the torch stopped at Olympic venues for the first time since the 2010 relay began more than three months ago.

‘It’s exciting. It’s the fire!”‘— Whistler resident Melanie Whittal

It has been seven years since Vancouver and Whistler were awarded the Games, but dreams of staging the Olympics in this quiet mountain paradise stretch back much further.

“Whistler has been waiting for this for 50 years, and it’s finally happening,” said torchbearer Jim Moodie, who carried the flame in front of a large sunlit Inukshuk with ski jumpers launching into the air in the distance.

“I’ve been skiing up here since it opened in 1966 and to actually have this moment is really, really special.”

Taken to event sites

The torch was taken to the ski jumps at Whistler Olympic Park, as test jumpers flew through the air and landed on packed snow. The flame also passed through the biathlon stadium and cross-country skiing areas of the park.

Melanie Whittal, a volunteer from the Vancouver-area city of Ladner who will be working at the park during the Olympics, said that for her, the torch’s arrival means the Olympics have already started.

“It’s the start of all the Games,” said Whittal, 48, who sells outdoor and ski equipment. “We’ve followed the journey of the torch all the way from the beginning. It’s exciting. It’s the fire!”

On Friday evening, the flame was carried on a snowmobile up Whistler Mountain, site of the alpine events.

At the top of the mountain, Canadian freestyle skier Julia Murray, whose late father, Dave Murray, was an original member of the famed Crazy Canuck downhill team, handed the flame over to another former Crazy Canuck, Steve Podborski.

Podborski, who won bronze at the 1980 Olympics and is a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, planned to ski with the torch to a waiting celebration at the bottom of the slopes.

The Olympic flame was lit in Greece last October at a ceremony that used the rays of the sun and a special mirror to start the fire.

Since arriving in Victoria shortly after, organizers have staged the longest-ever domestic Olympic torch relay, passing through every province and territory and stretching as far north as the outpost of Alert, Nunavut.

The relay ends next Friday when the flame will light a cauldron at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, setting off more than two weeks of Olympic competition.

The youngest son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke has died from injuries sustained in a car accident on Friday, the hockey team announced.

Brendan Burke, 21, was fatally injured in a two-vehicle collision in Indiana.

Mark Reedy, 18, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., also died at the scene of the afternoon crash, the Palladium-Item newspaper in Richmond, Ind., reported.

The Maple Leals organization released the following statement after the team’s game Friday in New Jersey:

“We are saddened to report that Brendan Burke, the youngest son of Leafs president and general manager Brian Burke succumbed to injuries he suffered in an auto accident earlier today in Indiana. The family asks for privacy at this difficult time.”

More to come

with files from the Associated Press

New Jersey Devils’ Ilya Kovalchuk shoots past Toronto Maple Leafs’ Fredrik Sjostrom during the second period Friday in Newark, N.J. (Bill Kostroun/Associated Press)

Ilya Kovalchuk’s first shift and first point as a New Jersey Devil were greeted with cheers, but he and his new teammates left the ice after the second period on Friday to a chorus of boos following three unanswered goals by the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Down 3-1 to start the third period, the Devils rallied to make the sniper’s debut a successful one, scoring three goals in the final 3:04 to snatch a 4-3 win.

Kovalchuk — acquired from Atlanta on Thursday night as the centrepiece of a five-player trade — assisted on Dainus Zubrus’s first-period goal and on Travis Zajac’s game-tying marker with 46 seconds left in the game.

Jay Pandolfo scored with 19 seconds remaining to complete the thrilling come-from-behind victory.

Tomas Kaberle and Lee Stempniak scored on the man-advantage, while Rickard Wallin scored his first-ever NHL goal, but the Maple Leafs (18-29-11) couldn’t pull off back-to-back wins against New Jersey.

The Devils’ latest addition made his mark early, notching the primary assist on the opening goal by Zubrus, on a play that started with some bad puck handling by Toronto goalie Jonas Gustavsson.

Behind his net, trying to clear away a Devils’ dump-in, Gustavsson had his clearing attempt batted down by Kovalchuk in the corner, who threw the puck towards the slot for Zubrus.

Despite falling to the ice, the New Jersey centre lifted his backhand shot overtop of Gustavsson’s blocker for his fourth goal of the season and staked his club to a 1-0 lead 13:20 into the opening frame.

But after the second period, the Maple Leafs were firmly planted in the driver’s seat, notching a trio of goals, two on the power play, to take a 3-1 lead.

The Maple Leafs tied the game 3:39 into the second thanks to a Tomas Kaberle goal on the man-advantage.

With Rob Niedermayer off the ice on a slashing call, Kaberle’s shot from the point deflected off the stick of New Jersey defenceman Jay Pandolfo’s and fooled Martin Brodeur on his glove side.

The Maple Leafs added their next power-play marker 6:44 later to take a 2-1 lead.

Lee Stempniak stole the puck from a Devils defender and skated the length of the blue-line before he blasted a slapper from the faceoff circle that beat a screened Martin Brodeur five-hole.

Wallin nets first as Maple Leaf

Some lax puck control by the Devils in their own end allowed Rickard Wallin to score his first NHL goal with 3:51 to go in the middle frame.

With the puck sliding through the feet of Devils defenceman Colin White in the New Jersey slot, Wallin swooped in to gather the puck, beating Brodeur through the legs to make it 3-1.

The New Jersey fans — who vocalized their happiness in the first period, cheering Kovalchuk’s first shift as well as the announcement of his assist — changed their tune after 40 minutes, booing their team off the ice.

Phil Kessel, already with two assists, was looking for a goal to start the third period. Charging straight from the opening face-off into the slot, Kessel forced Brodeur to hold the fort early and keep his team in the game just seconds into the final frame.

Then it was Gustavsson’s turn to be tested. The goalie denied Zubrus with five minutes remaining, making a lunging stop, and had the New Jersey player’s knee strike him in the helmet. He was slow to get up.

With 3:04 to go, Dean McAmmond shot a backhand over the glove of Gustavsson to cut the lead to 3-2.

That marker re-energized both the crowd and the New Jersey bench. With Alexei Ponikarovski off for hauling down Zubrus on a great scoring chance, the Devils’ Zajac took advantage, blasting a one-time pass from McAmmond to knot it up with 44 seconds left.

Just 25 seconds later, Pandolfo buried the rebound off a Mike Mottau shot past a shell-shocked Gustavsson to complete the thrilling comeback.

Goalie Michal Neuvirth came up huge for Washington in the second period of Friday’s win. (Nick Wass/Associated Press)

Alexander Ovechkin scored his league-leading 39th goal and assisted on another as the Washington Capitals set aside the Atlanta Thrashers 5-2 on Friday night, extending their franchise record winning streak to 13 games.

Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin also finished with a goal and an assist, with Jason Chimera scoring the fourth goal as the Caps established the first 13-game streak since the New Jersey Devils in 2000-01. The NHL record is 17, set by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992-93.

The Capitals have outscored opponents 62-29 during its streak. They have not lost at their Verizon Center home in 2010, a span of nine games.

High-scoring defenceman Mike Green returned to the lineup for Washington after serving a three-game suspension for an elbow to the head and scored his 13th into an empty net.

Michal Neuvirth returned to the crease for Washington (40-12-6), making 43 saves. Jose Theodore had started the team’s last three games.

Neuvirth was brilliant in the second with 22 saves, as Atlanta could not score on two power plays.

The Capitals are scheduled to go for 14 on Sunday afternoon at home against Pittsburgh, although some weather forecasts predict the D.C. area could be hit with up to 60 centimetres of snow.

Tobias Enstrom put the visitors up 1-0 in the first, but the Thrashers could not score again until Rich Peverley’s short-handed goal with just under seven minutes left. Ondrej Pavelec would stop 27 shots in net for Atlanta (24-24-8).

The Thrashers lost for the third straight time and failed to make up ground in the Eastern Conference, remaining in 11th.

Atlanta was playing for the first time in nearly nine years without Ilya Kovalchuk on their roster. The Russian sniper, drafted by the club, was traded to New Jersey on Thursday for three players and a draft pick after contentious contract negotiations.

The two NHL players that came over, defenceman Johnny Oduya and forward Niclas Bergfors, each finished with a minus-1 rating in their first game as members of the Thrashers.

Ovechkin moved back ahead of Patrick Marleau of San Jose for the goal lead and is atop the NHL scoring race with 82 points.

Capitals defender Karl Alzner broke his stick at the Atlanta blue-line and the Thrashers headed up ice to score the first goal of the game. Slava Kozlov passed the puck in the Washington end to start the play, with defenceman Enstrom rushing in from point to lift a rebound home.

Strangely, Washington has yielded the first goal seven times in the 13-game span.

Pavelec showed he was in form early by making a pad save on a Semin breakaway.

Ovechkin’s goal demonstrated his irrepressible quality. Ovechkin broke his stick in his own end on a power play, retrieved a new one midstride while passing the Washington bench and proceeded to join the play up ice, hammering a one-timer from the point past Pavelec.

In the second, Chimera buzzed around the crease but could not beat Pavelec, and then Backstrom snapped a shot from the slot high into the net just under five minutes into the second.

The Swede scored his 25th — already a career high — and hit the 70-point mark on Friday for the second time in three NHL seasons. He registered 69 in his rookie season.

Neuvirth was unbeatable in the period, robbing Ron Hainsey in the slot with a glove save on the first Atlanta power play of the period.

The Capitals broke it open with two goals in 68 seconds early in the third.

Atlanta turned the puck over in Washington’s end and Brooks Laich sped down the left side, feeding Semin for his 26th on a 2-on-1.

The Thrashers tried to press but paid the price with a goal at exactly five minutes into the third. Chimera picked up a loose puck and burst down the left wing, firing a rocket over Pavelec’s shoulder.

Peverley’s unassisted goal was his second goal and fifth point this season with his team short-handed.

The Capitals have won all four meetings this season, with the final two also set to take place at Verizon Center.

The victims of Montreal financial adviser Earl Jones announced Friday they are seeking a judge’s permission to launch a class-action lawsuit against the Royal Bank of Canada.

The petitioner named in the suit is Virginia Nelles, whose brother and mother lost almost $1 million invested with Jones.

Victims of Montreal financial adviser Earl Jones have sought a judge’s permission to launch a class action lawsuit against the Royal Bank of Canada. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

The suit filed in Quebec Superior Court alleges that the Royal Bank’s Beaconsfield Branch in Montreal and its employees were aware that Jones was misusing his personal account at least as far back as November 2001 but did nothing.

The legal documents allege that Jones enjoyed a privileged status at the bank because of his standing in the community and as such the transactions weren’t vetted.

“The petitioner submits that Earl Jones could not and would not have been able to carry out a Ponzi scheme to the detriment of the members of the class were it not for the negligence and willful blindness of the Royal Bank,” the claim reads.

None of the claims against the Royal Bank have been proven in court.

The suit seeks the full amount that was deposited in the account between 1981 and 2008. A spokesman for the Earl Jones Victims Organizing Committee says the amount determined by lawyers is about $40 million.

“They did not act in a prudent, vigilant or reasonable manner in the operation of this in-trust account,” said Joey Davis, in reference to the bank.

The claim alleges if the Royal Bank had kept closer tabs, Jones would not have been successful in perpetrating his 30-year scheme.

RBC has not yet filed a statement of defence, but the bank said in a statement that it, too, was a victim of Jones.

‘We were deceived by Mr. Jones, just as his clients were’ —Royal Bank

“We were deceived by Mr. Jones, just as his clients were,” the bank said in a statement. “Until 2009, there was nothing to signal that Mr. Jones was anything other than a legitimate and successful businessman.

Mr. Jones used his long-standing reputation in the community to take advantage of both clients and companies.”

RBC said in a statement that by using its logos and letterhead, Jones lent legitimacy to his Ponzi scheme, even though no such accounts existed.

We did not know that Mr. Jones was misrepresenting RBC’s role in his business until Mr. Jones was arrested,” the institution said.

RBC acknowledged that Jones’ in-trust account, opened some 25 years ago, was operated as a personal account. It added in the statement that in-trust accounts don’t have any special status or restrictions. “Banks do not monitor the transaction activity of an in-trust account differently from any other type of personal or business account,” RBC said.

The bank added: “We are appalled at the damage Mr. Jones has inflicted on so many people and are actively assisting the trustee and authorities involved in this matter.”

Jones is due to be sentenced on Feb. 15 after pleading guilty last month to two counts of fraud totalling roughly $50 million. The charges covered his 27-year career as a financial adviser on Montreal’s West Island. Jones bilked 158 clients out of $50.3 million. His criminal proceedings heard that he never invested a penny of the money and none of it has been recovered.

Ontario skip Krista McCarville, left, and third Tara George have qualified for their first Tournament of Hearts playoffs. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Ontario’s Krista McCarville secured the final playoff spot at the Tournament of Hearts with a 10-3 rout over Manitoba’s Jill Thurston on Friday.

It’s McCarville’s first time advancing past the round robin in four tries at the Canadian women’s curling championship. The 27-year-old will face two-time former champion Kelly Scott of British Columbia in the 3 vs. 4 Page playoff game on Saturday afternoon in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Both skips finished the round robin with a 7-4 record.

The 1 vs. 2 Page playoff on Friday night pits surprise top seed Kathy O’Rourke of Prince Edward Island (8-3) against Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (8-3), who’s trying for her third consecutive title.

The winner of the 1 vs. 2 game advances directly to the championship final on Sunday. The loser gets a second chance on Saturday night against the winner of the 3-4 playoff.

The victims of Montreal financial adviser Earl Jones announced Friday they have launched a class action against the Royal Bank of Canada.

The petitioner named in the suit is Virginia Nelles, whose brother and mother lost almost $1 million invested with Jones.

Victims of Montreal financial adviser Earl Jones announced Friday they have launched a class action lawsuit against the Royal Bank of Canada. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)

The suit alleges that the Royal Bank’s Beaconsfield Branch in Montreal and its employees were aware that Jones was misusing his personal account at least as far back as November 2001.

Jones is due to be sentenced on Feb. 15 after pleading guilty last month to two counts of fraud totalling roughly $50 million. The charges covered his 27-year career as a financial adviser on Montreal’s West Island.

Jones bilked 158 clients out of $50.3 million.

Potential Crosby-Ovechkin Olympic clash exciting

Alex Ovechkin versus Sidney Crosby is a hockey match made in heaven. On Sunday, they will clash on the ice for the final time before what most hockey nuts hope is a prelude to a Sid the Kid, Alexander the Great showdown at the Vancouver Olympics.

Kovalchuk wanted out of Atlanta

Ilya Kovalchuk finally got his wish and was dealt away from the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday evening. The left-winger never demanded a trade from the Thrashers, but he certainly made it clear general manager Don Waddell that he wanted out when he turned down two different lucrative proposals last fall.

Brodeur’s place as Canada’s No. 1 isn’t a given

The decision on Team Canada’s starting goalie at the upcoming Winter Olympics won’t be made until the coaching staff gathers in Vancouver on Feb. 14 or the following day at Canada’s practice. Most will be surprised if 37-year-old Martin Brodeur is not the go-to goalie. But his place as No. 1 isn’t a given.

Pushing the salary cap

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke deserves applause for his recent transactions in two separate trades with the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks. He acquired defenceman Dion Phaneuf from Calgary and later sent goalie Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake in exchange for netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Although, these moves continued to put the Leafs right up against the salary cap, subtracting Blake’s $4-million US salary from the books is a big relief.

Pronger wary of crossing Olympic line

Philadelphia Flyers defenceman dubiously has been anointed the NHL’s dirtiest player, but makes no apologies for living life on the edge with his stick, and his methods to keep the puck out of his own goal. But the trick for the kid from Dryden, Ont., is to swiftly find a happy medium between what will be acceptable and what will be intolerable at the men’s Olympic hockey tournament in Vancouver.