Tkachuk breaks tie in third to help Flames defeat Blackhawks

CALGARY --Matthew Tkachuk scored with 5:35 remaining in the third period, and the Calgary Flames won 5-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.

Dillon Dube and Milan Lucic scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves for the Flames (12-3-5), who won their fourth straight to open three in a row at home following a season-long seven-game road trip. Calgary has points in seven straight (5-0-2).
"First game back for this three-game homestand, it's nice to really grind this one out when we definitely were battling all over both countries the last few weeks," Tkachuk said.
Brandon Hagel and Reese Johnson scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves for the Blackhawks (6-11-2), who are 5-2-0 since Derek King replaced Jeremy Colliton as coach Nov. 6.
"The consistency of playing a certain way is not there yet, but it's getting there," King said. "I know these guys, going in there after the game they were disappointed. As the season has gone so far, that's a positive that they are upset about it."
Tkachuk's centering pass deflected off Chicago defenseman Seth Jones and over Fleury to put Calgary up 3-2 at 14:25.
"Just looking back to last year, I think that we would have maybe been tied 2-2 late in the third and probably given one up the way last year [went]," Tkachuk said. "It seemed like we gave up points like that all the time last year."

The goal came after Fleury made a pad save on Chris Tanev's backhand at 14:07.
"It's like he feels when our team really needs that and he gets activated and gets into it," Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews said. "I feel like when he starts seeing pucks and we start giving up too many chances he gets better and better. He backs us up when we're not so good in front of him. We don't want to have to rely on him to do that every single night. We have to help him and do things better in front of him. He's getting better and better each game, it seems."
Trevor Lewis (18:39) and Johnny Gaudreau (19:34) each scored into an empty net for the 5-2 final.
"It was probably the toughest stretch of our schedule, playing nine games in 15 days, starting in Calgary, ending in Calgary, so it just felt like one big, long road trip, but I think we did a good job of managing our energy, managing our rest, being fresh in all nine games," Lucic said.
Dube scored on Calgary's first shot, a snapshot past Fleury's glove off the rush 1:19 into the first period for a 1-0 lead.
Hagel scored for the second straight game to tie it 1-1 at 8:57 with a shot from the top of the face-off circle by Markstrom's glove after a Calgary turnover.
"There wasn't much left there, was there," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "You could see right at the start. It was one of those games where you're physically there, but not quite sharp mentally."

Lucic put Calgary up 2-1 at 13:06, beating Fleury short side after Brad Richardson forced a turnover in Chicago's end.
Johnson scored his first NHL goal on a shot along the ice after Markstrom's outlet pass failed to connect with Lindholm to make it 2-2 at 3:51 of the second period. It was Johnson's 16th NHL game.
"It's obviously nice to contribute," Johnson said. "I think I want to be able to do that more, get some greasy ones in front of the net, but obviously we want to come out of that with two points."
NOTES: The Flames have scored the first goal in a game an NHL-leading 16 times. They are 12-1-3 when scoring first. ... The win is Calgary's first against Central Division (1-0-2) and Western Conference opponents (1-2-3) this season. ... Lindholm had two assists to extend his point streak to six games (one goal, seven assists). ... Gaudreau has scored eight points (four goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. … Fleury is 4-1-0 with a 1.58 goals-against average and .955 save percentage in his past five starts. ... The Flames' 29 points is tied for the fourth-most through the first 20 games of a season in their history. Their record is 31 in 2001-02.