Windy City Windfall

CHICAGO — Timely, early goals, and a commitment to defensive structure.

Those two key ingredients helped the Flames deliver a winning recipe at the United Center, as Calgary overcame an early deficit to knock off the Blackhawks 3-1.

Yegor Sharangovich, Mikael Backlund and Matt Coronato scored the Calgary goals - with Sharangovich and Backlund having multi-point nights, too - while Devin Cooley turned aside 22 of 23 shots to help the Flames end their five-game swing on a winning note.

Both the powerplay and the penalty-kill delivered a goal Thursday, and post-game, Head Coach Ryan Huska pointed to his team's work in the defensive zone - and his group's effort on special teams - as keys to their success.

"I liked that we didn’t give up a lot," Huska noted. "I think that was important for us because we have been a little bit loose over the last little while in what we’re giving up. I thought our special teams tonight were good, scoring on the powerplay early again was important for us and our penalty kill did an excellent job.

"I think it was just a good, hard-working road game for us, which we’re pretty pleased with."

MacKenzie Weegar helped seal the deal with a painful, third-period blocked shot. But he pointed to his group's work while short-handed - namely Backlund's short-handed decider - as a turning point.

"PK, they bailed us out a lot tonight," Weegar said. "Backs, our captain gets us going with a big short-handed goal.

"It was nice to see, his sister and his nephew in the stands, so it probably felt pretty good for him."

Chicago opened the scoring 2:38 into the first period on a snapshot from captain Nick Foligno, but the lead was short-lived.

The Flames earned their first powerplay chance of the game on the next shift, and 36 seconds after the opener, found a way to equalize. Connor Zary crashed the net from the left goalline, the rebound found Sharangovich at the bottom of the right circle. He made no mistake, depositing the disc past Blackhawks starter Spencer Knight to even the score at 1-1.

Less than three minutes later, Backlund earned his second point of the period. After stripping countryman Andre Burakovsky of the puck in the neutral zone, Backlund sped in alone on goal on a short-handed breakaway, deking Knight, then cutting to his left before ripping a shot high into the yawning cage.

Thursday’s game was a tight-checking affair, the Flames surrendering only one powerplay shot against on four personnel disadvantages through the opening 40 minutes, but Calgary relied on Cooley, too, at even strength.

He made two quick stick saves off Tyler Bertuzzi and Louis Crevier late in the first period, then robbed Matt Grzelcyk with a blocker stop off a wide-open slot shot in the dying moments of the second stanza.

Speaking of that middle frame, that’s where things got interesting from a physicality standpoint.

Joel Farabee dropped the mitts with Connor Murphy after Murphy delivered a hard check in the centre circle, then Kevin Bahl nailed Oliver Moore along the boards in the neutral zone, prompting a physical response from Chicago’s Ryan Donato that led to an extended Calgary powerplay.

Knight got a bit of help from his post in the third period to keep the score at 2-1 for the guests. Adam Klapka found Rasmus Andersson in space high in the offensive zone; Andersson picked his spot and cranked the puck off the iron from the high slot four minutes into the frame.

Matt Coronato forced the Chicago 'keeper into parrying aside another quality chance, forcing Knight's blocker hand on a rush with six minutes to play.

But he made good on an empty-net opportunity after his linemates won the puck in the defensive zone, accepting a pass from Sharangovich in the middle of the ice before ripping his 13th of the season into the open goal.

The Lineup:

FORWARDS

Connor Zary - Nazem Kadri - Adam Klapka

Yegor Sharangovich - Mikael Backlund - Matt Coronato

Jonathan Huberdeau - Morgan Frost - Joel Farabee

Ryan Lomberg - Justin Kirkland - Dryden Hunt

DEFENCE

Yan Kuznetsov - MacKenzie Weegar

Kevin Bahl - Rasmus Andersson

Joel Hanley - Hunter Brzustewicz

GOALTENDERS

Devin Cooley - starter

Dustin Wolf

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 23, CHI 23

Powerplay: CGY 1-4, CHI 0-4

Faceoffs: CGY 45.6%, CHI 54.4%

Hits: CGY 29, CHI 11

Blocked Shots: CGY 12, CHI 19

5-on-5 Scoring Chances: CGY 16, CHI 15

5-on-5 High-Danger Scoring Chances: CGY 6, CHI 6

Up Next:

The next five games for the Flames are all on home ice, beginning with a Saturday matinee at 1 p.m. MT versus the New York Islanders. GET TICKETS