Ladd leads Blackhawks past Flames

CALGARY -- Andrew Ladd had two goals and an assist, and Scott Darling made 31 saves to lift the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.
Andrew Shaw and Teuvo Teravainen scored for the Blackhawks (43-25-7), who won for the second time in their previous eight games (2-4-2). Chicago trails the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues by six points for first in the Central Division, and is two points ahead of the Nashville Predators for third.

"I think we lost a ton of ground here and trying to get a win was the most important thing here," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've still got to be better. We found a way to win, which was nice. [Darling] was very instrumental in the win. I just think that scoreboard watching when you're in this position is not where we need to be. We've got to get two points and take care of our own business."
Dougie Hamilton scored, and Joni Ortio made 23 saves for the Flames (31-38-6), who have lost three in a row.

"We played a pretty good game," Hamilton said. "We knew they were struggling a bit and they played well defensively. They only gave up the one. Their goalie played good and they capitalized on their plays. I thought we worked hard, though."
Shaw put Chicago up 2-1 with 49 seconds remaining in the second period, deflecting Michal Rozsival's slap-pass from the point by Ortio to extend his goal-scoring streak to three games. The goal came after he took minor penalties for roughing and slashing 2:20 apart.
"I needed to make up for that dumb penalty I took," Shaw said. "I did what I could to get to the net. We had some big kills there … 5-on-3 opportunity and we killed it. Penalty kill was good tonight. To get a big goal and answer the bell after that, it's huge."

Darling made 11 saves in the third period, including back-to-back stops on Brandon Bollig's slap shot from the point and TJ Brodie with just over seven minutes remaining.
"Darling was huge," Shaw said. "He made some big-time saves. He fought through traffic to find pucks. He was lights-out tonight."
Ladd, with 1:12 left, and Teravainen, with 11.2 seconds remaining, scored into an empty net.
"We need to get confidence in the right areas and I thought for the most part we played the way we need to play night-in, night-out," Ladd said. "It should give us confidence in terms of the way we need to play and having success within that system."

Ladd opened the scoring at 5:51 of the second, intercepting a pass by Brodie at Calgary's blue line and skating in before shooting by Ortio's blocker for his fourth goal since rejoining to the Blackhawks via a trade with the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 25.
"Honestly, I knew [Hossa] and [Jonathan Toews] were trying to get off the ice so I was trying to hold the middle and get my stick in a lane," Ladd said. "Fortunate enough for me, he just put it on my tape. I had a good shot."
Dougie Hamilton tied the game at 12:47. Freddie Hamilton fanned on a one-timer setup by Johnny Gaudreau in the slot but the puck skipped to Dougie Hamilton, whose shot beat Darling to make it 1-1. It's the first time in Flames history that brothers combined on a goal.

"We got to do that a lot in junior," said Freddie Hamilton, who played with his brother with Niagara of the Ontario Hockey League from 2009-2012. "Those were some memorable times for us when we got to set each other up, on the power play or not. My parents were probably pretty happy there and it was a nice feeling."
The Blackhawks continue their four-game road trip at the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday. The Flames start a four-game road trip at the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.
"We know where we're at in terms of the standings and Nashville's right on our heels and St. Louis is pulling away," Ladd said. "We understand this road trip is a big road trip for us. You take it one game at a time and take these two points and now we can focus on Vancouver."