winner

CHICAGO - Some stories just write themselves.

Rookie Rory Kerins – recalled on Friday from the AHL Wranglers – got his first NHL start Monday and collected a pair of assists on the first two goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the Blackhawks.

Oh, and those two goals were scored by another youngster – Jakob Pelletier, himself recalled in December. The two players were linemates with the Wranglers and good friends off the ice.

Mikael Backlund, Jake Bean and Yegor Sharangovich also scored for the Flames, who kicked off this four-game road trip in style with their third victory in a row as they outshot Chicago 36-24.

They had already beaten Chicago twice this season.

It was Pelletier’s second and third goals on the season, while Kerins – who had his parents, sister, brother and girlfriend in the stands at the United Center to watch him – became the first Flame since Sergei Makarov in 1989 to get two helpers in his NHL debut.

He finished the night an impressive +3 with 14:57 of ice time, and nearly got his first goal late in the second period when he had a shot at the top of the blue paint with a Blackhawk on his back, but Chicago netminder Petr Mrazek made a pad save.

Pelletier also had an assist and finished +3, too, with four shots.

Dustin Wolf – making his fourth straight start – got the victory, making 22 saves.

Jonathan Huberdeau, meanwhile, continued to be red-hot, assisting on Sharangovich’s goal. He now has 21 points in his last 21 outings.

Go inside the dressing room and follow the rookie out on the ice

"His hard work has paid off"

Pelletier scored a scant 1:14 into the opening frame when he took a short pass from Kerins and snapped one low, farside past Petr Mrazek.

Pelletier takes feed from Kerins and scores 1:14 into tilt

The lead didn’t last long, as Blackhawks blueliner Louis Crevier snapped a long-distance wrister through some traffic just over a minute later that beat Wolf shortside.

Then some five minutes in, Backlund fed it to a wide-open Blake Coleman after a Chicago turnover, but Blackhawks defender Alec Martinez was able to close the gap and lunge with his stick to deflect Coleman’s backhand high over the net.

Wolf saw seven shots in the period, flashing the leather to snag a Tyler Bertuzzi wrister deep in the Flames zone.

He also made a heckuva stop on a 2-on-1, coming across to rob Ilya Mikheyev off a cross-ice fed from Connor Bedard.

Pelletier got his second at 11:47, shovelling home the rebound after a Kevin Bahl shot who had taken a feed from Kerins.

Pelletier shovels in rebound for second goal of game with Kerins getting another helper

Coleman started the play that led to the third goal, trying to throw a pass out front that went off Seth Jones, then falling to the ice amid bodies, Matt Coronato throwing it on net from in tight and Backlund getting a touch on its way in at 14:08.

Backlund gets his stick on a shot by Coronato to give Flames 3-1 lead

Wolf denied a Bedard backhand off a deke early in the second and the Flames came the other way and scored 1:55 in.

Sharangovich fired a shot that missed the net but hit the endboards and came out the other side right onto the stick of a pinching Bean, who snapped it the yawning cage as Mrazek tried to lunge back across.

Bean capitalizes on great bounce off endboards to make it 4-1 in second

Martin Pospisil was called for a five-minute major and given a game misconduct at 10:30 of the second for a hit on Taylor Hall and Bedard would score 59 seconds into the advantage to narrow the gap.

Sharangovich, though, would add to the lead shorthanded at 13:38, starting off the play by forcing Jones to turn the puck over in the neutral zone.

Huberdeau picked it up and skated in, passing it Sharangovich who showed great patience and a deft touch to settle the bouncing puck and when it looked like he was out of room to get a shot off, sliding it under Mrazek’s leg for his seventh of the season.

Sharangovich shows great patience to finesse home a shorthanded marker

The Lineup:

FORWARDS

Jonathan Huberdeau - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil

Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato

Rory Kerins - Yegor Sharangovich - Jakob Pelletier

Ryan Lomberg - Kevin Rooney - Walker Duehr

DEFENCE

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson

Joel Hanley - MacKenzie Weegar

Jake Bean - Brayden Pachal

GOALTENDER

Dustin Wolf - starter

Dan Vladar

Not one, but TWO game pucks for Rory!

They Said It:

"Feels nice, to be honest"

"It’s a really good goal for the team"

"It was a good start for us tonight"

"He made some composed plays with the puck"

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 36, CHI 25

Powerplay: CGY 0-3, CHI 1-2

Faceoffs: CGY 44.8%, CHI 55.2%

Blocked Shots: CGY 15, CHI 17

Hits: CGY 22, CHI 29

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 27, CHI 20

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 13, CHI 10

Up Next:

The Flames hopped a plane to St. Louis right after this tilt where they will play the first of two tilts in three nights against the Blues on Tuesday at 6 p.m. MTN on Sportsnet. The two clubs meet again Thursday night, same time, same channel, before Calgary finishes off the road trip in Winnipeg Saturday.

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