DENVER -- Greg Gilbert was a popular coach, the kind who inspired his players to work harder and had a great relationship with the front office.

		Tuesday, Dec. 3 I worked the Flames' game in Detroit on Sunday night, and it was apparent something was going to happen. The speculation about Greg Gilbert's job had intensified to the point where it was a matter of when he would get fired, not if he would. Because San Jose had already fired Darryl Sutter, I think that took pressure off Calgary. Nobody wants to be first. Gilbert had pushed as many buttons as he could. He and the players were trying everything, but they were coming up short. They didn't quit on Gilbert against Detroit. If Curtis Joseph hadn't been so good, the Flames would have beaten the Red Wings. Something different has been going wrong for the Flames every night, but an inability to score goals has been the chronic problem. Calgary is last in the NHL in scoring (2.08 per game). Scoring takes both talent and confidence, and the whole team is suffering from a lack of confidence. Jarome Iginla is finding out what it's like to be a 50-goal scorer. Everyone is paying attention to him and taking his favorite spots and ways to score. Al MacNeil is experienced behind the bench and knows the players, but he's certainly not the long-term solution as the head coach. The Flames could be grooming assistant Brian Skrudland to take over, but Sutter would make sense and be a good fit for Calgary. He's originally from Alberta and has a track record of coaching and pushing young teams, as he did in San Jose and Chicago. He drives them hard and teaches them what it's like to be accountable.

Unfortunately for Gilbert, it didn't add up to victories.

The last-place Calgary Flames fired Gilbert and assistant Brad McCrimmon on Tuesday, after winning just one of their past 12 games and enduring one of the worst months in team history.

General manager Craig Button said assistant GM Al MacNeil will serve as interim coach.

"Greg liked the players, and the players liked Greg, but the coordination and what a team needs to do to be successful -- it was slipping,'' Button said. "Ultimately, that's the coach's responsibility. It's to coordinate the team, make them work in unison and work with purpose. That clearly wasn't happening.''

The Flames brought in 19 new players during Gilbert's two years as coach in attempt to end six straight years of missing the playoffs.

Last season, the Flames traded for goalie Roman Turek and forward Rob Niedermayer, and signed bruising forward Craig Berube as a free agent. Calgary then signed free agent forward Martin Gelinas and traded for forwards Chris Drury and Stephane Yelle this year. None of it worked.

Saint John Flames coach Jim Playfair is reportedly the frontrunner to replace Gilbert.

The Flames finished with 79 points last season, well out of the playoffs, and have been worse this year.

Calgary was 3-9-1-1 in November and had lost four straight games heading into Tuesday night's game against the Colorado Avalanche.

The Flames are in last place in the Northwest Division at 6-13-3-3; only three NHL teams have fewer points.

"We really liked him and wanted to play for him, but the fact is we weren't winning games, and we have to pay for it,'' Flames defenseman Denis Gauthier said. "We've got to look at ourselves in the mirror and be very disappointed for what happened.''

Calgary hasn't been to the conference finals since winning its first Stanley Cup in 1989.

Gilbert, who replaced Don Hay in March 2000, was the Flames' fifth coach in the past eight years and became the second NHL coach to lose his job this season. San Jose fired Daryl Sutter on Sunday.

"It's hard every time, for sure,'' said forward Jarome Iginla, in his ninth season with the Flames. "It's always a bit of a shock. Even if you see things coming and you know there's going to be changes, it's always a shock.''

Gilbert was an assistant coach with the Flames in 2000-01, and played for four teams in 15 NHL seasons.

He was 42-56-17-6 in 2½ seasons with Calgary.

MacNeil, who played for five teams in 10 NHL seasons during the 1960s, is in his 23rd year with the organization. He was director of hockey operations for two years and coached the franchise from 1979-82, going 103-93-44.

MacNeil won the Stanley Cup as Montreal's coach in 1971, his first in the league, and has a 134-108-53 record in four seasons.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.