Calgary Flames' Jarome Iginla keeps the puck in front of Detroit Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg. (REUTERS/Rebecca Cook)

DETROIT — By any means necessary, the Red Wings were determined to snap their goal drought.

Using the ever-annoying Tomas Holmstrom to crowd the crease, the speedy Darren Helm to get the puck to the net, and the always dangerous Pavel Datsyuk to work some magic in the slot, the Wings peppered Miikka Kiprusoff with 40 shots.

The Flames goaltender didn't budge, backstopping the visitors to a 3-0 shutout victory at Joe Louis Arena Friday to kick off a six-game road trip.

"That's what that team does," Kiprusoff said with a shrug afterward. "They always shoot a lot, throw pucks at the net and try to play rebounds."

Battling for space on the fringes of the Flames crease, it was tough to tell who had it worse between Holmstrom and Kiprusoff. Both were bumped, jabbed and bullied. But no matter what Holmstrom did to obstruct Kiprusoff's view, the netminder came up with the save.

"It's always a challenge," Kiprusoff said. "You know before a game he's going to be there. He's pretty good there with his stick and screening."

Kiprusoff was just better with his blocking and gloving as he earned his second shutout of the year and 32nd of his career.

"He played an outstanding game," defenceman Robyn Regehr said of the Finnish netminder. "I can't say enough about him.

"He was making some great saves out there, even when he couldn't see.

"He's not just a good technical goaltender, but sometimes when he can't see the puck till the last minute, he's so quick that he's able to make a reaction save."

The shutout extended the Red Wings' slump to 153 minutes and 22 seconds without a goal. It was also the first time the team was shut out in back-to-back games at The Joe since 1977.

Aside from a catalogue of impressive Kiprusoff stops, the win wasn't pretty. The Flames took too many penalties, and gave up too many premium scoring chances before Olli Jokinen made it 3-0 just 25 seconds into the third period.

That finally stopped the assault on their goaltender.

"We got much better," said Regehr. "Sometimes it's just not going to go the exact way you want it in a game. Thank goodness we were able to capitalize on a couple of really good opportunities — one right off the bat."

Jamie Lundmark got back in the coaches' good books with his first goal coming just 28 seconds into the game. Nigel Dawes padded the lead with 1:31 to play in the period, but it was all Wings in between.

The hosts thought they'd ended their drought in the first period.

Doing his best impression of Holmstrom, Dan Cleary tipped Brad Stuart's point shot through Kiprusoff's legs, but referee Chris Lee waved it off immediately because Cleary was parked in the blue paint when he got his stick on the puck.

"That's a good call," Kiprusoff said with a smile, admitting he asked the men in stripes to keep an eye out for interference. "You have to talk with referees always before (a game) — especially with this team."

Even with the assist on that call, Kiprusoff did plenty to earn the shutout.

"Kipper played unbelievable," said Lundmark. "He's obviously the best goaltender in the league, I think. He's just so consistent, just comes up with big saves every night that you just don't know how he does it."