Calgary's six-game win streak changes Keenan's fortunes

CALGARY (Reuters) - Calgary Flames coach Mike Keenan left for the team's recent six-game road trip with chants of "Fire Mike" ringing in his ears after his team's poor start to the season.

However he can expect a hero's welcome to the Saddledome when Calgary hosts the Dallas Stars on Friday after the Flames became just the third team in NHL history to sweep a six-game road trip, surging up the Western Conference standings.

"We didn't expect to win six in a row but we gained some momentum as it went along and it kind of developed a life of its own," Keenan said during a conference call on Wednesday. "Now we want to carry some of that into our home stand."

During the 10-day road trip Keenan became just the sixth coach to collect 600 career wins, joining a club that includes Scotty Bowman (1,244), Al Arbour (781), Dick Irvin (692), Pat Quinn (657) and Bryan Murray (607).

While Keenan's record marks him as one of the NHL's best coaches, he remains one of the most controversial earning the nickname 'Iron Mike' for his tough, uncompromising style.

In his 19th season as a head coach, Keenan has worked for eight teams finding success and controversy at almost every stop.

He guided the Philadelphia Flyers to the 1985 Stanley Cup finals in his rookie season and to the finals again in 1987 only to be fired the following year.

In 1992, Keenan took the Chicago Blackhawks to the finals but was soon looking for another job signing on with the New York Rangers in 1993 and leading them to the Stanley Cup to end a 54 year championship drought.

Keenan however resigned the following year after a dispute with general manager Neil Smith.

Keenan also had stints in St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston and the Florida Panthers, from which he resigned as general manager in 2006.

"When you have your first firing you think you're never going to get hired again," said Keenan.

"This time I didn't think about it because I wanted to come back on my own terms.

"I was a little fearful (if he still had the passion to coach) when I started this year and it started right up again.

"Even though we had a tough start I still wanted to come to the rink every day, so I think the fire is really burning right now."

(Writing by Steve Keating in Detroit, editing by Greg Stutchbury)