Flames lose to Blackhawks, fail to gain in Western wild card race

CALGARY --The Calgary Flames failed to gain ground in the Western Conference wild card race with a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at Scotiabank Saddledome on Tuesday.

Andreas Athanasiou had two goals, and Jujhar Khaira and Austin Wagner each scored for the Blackhawks (25-46-6), who ended an eight-game losing streak. Petr Mrazek made 33 saves for his first win since Feb. 25.
"Any game you come into you want to win," Athanasiou said. "Obviously, we know some teams are fighting for playoff spots and it's a good way to come into a game and kind of be a heartbreaker a little bit. All the boys want to come out here and play hard, and first and foremost try to get the win."

Noah Hanifin had a goal and an assist, Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Backlund scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves for the Flames (36-27-15), who had won four in a row to climb within two points of the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the West.
"I thought we had urgency, just maybe sometimes you might want it too much, and that might've happened tonight," Calgary defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. "When you try to make that play all the time instead of letting it come to you, it's frustrating. Right back at it. Big game tomorrow."
The Jets, who have played one fewer game, host the Flames at Canada Life Centre on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, ESPN+, SN NOW).
"If we want to keep our season alive and we want to keep our playoff hopes alive, we've got to forget about everything to this point and win one game tomorrow," Backlund said.

Athanasiou put Chicago up 3-2 at 1:42 of the third period, tapping in a return pass from Lukas Reichel after Calgary forward Nazem Kadri turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and Wagner extended the lead to 4-2 at 3:11 when he toe-dragged around a sliding MacKenzie Weegar before shooting by Markstrom.
Backlund cut it to 4-3 at 13:09 when his centering pass into the slot deflected in off the skate of Blackhawks defenseman Ian Mitchell.
"We weren't playing with the pace, execution that we wanted," Backlund said. "I think urgency was not at the level you'd want us to be at in such an important game. Tied 2-2 going into the third, that's where we've got to push, and they did it to us instead. I thought the second we dominated the period, and we came back and had a chance to win the game in the third and gave up two right away."
Mrazek made a flurry of stops with under 30 seconds remaining, including an arm save on a slap shot from Toffoli with 29 seconds left to preserve the win.
"Eight-game losing streak, obviously not good, but I think it was a good response," Reichel said. "They're still in the playoff run, so we kind of wanted to give everything, give 100 percent. It was a good challenge for us. I'm glad we won."

Athanasiou, who has scored four times in a three-game goal streak, gave Chicago a 1-0 lead at 5:09 of the first period with a snap shot from the slot.
Toffoli tied it 1-1 at 11:52 with his team-leading 34th goal after a clearing attempt in the low slot by Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones deflected in off his stick.
Khaira put Chicago up 2-1 at 19:22, lifting a backhand over Markstrom's glove from the edge of the crease after taking a centering pass from Boris Katchouk that immediately followed a Kadri turnover behind the Flames net.
"It's unfortunate," Kadri said. "Off a couple bounces, they take advantage of a couple mistakes and it ended up costing us."

Hanifin tied it 2-2 at 11:44 of the second period when he finished a three-way passing play with Blake Coleman and Jonathan Huberdeau by shooting five-hole on Mrazek after a turnover by Wagner at Chicago's blue line.
"I think overall with the game we could've executed a lot of things better and helped ourselves in a better way," Backlund said.
NOTES: Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi had one shot and four hits in 19:13 after missing three games with a hip injury. … Reichel has four points (one goal, three assists) in a three-game point streak. … Chicago forward Tyler Johnson had a three-game goal and point streak end (four points; three goals, one assist). ... Toffoli has five points (three goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak, and 16 points (eight goals, eight assists) in his past 10 games. ... Flames defenseman Chris Tanev returned after missing six games with an upper-body injury. He had one shot and blocked three shots in 18:33. … Calgary coach Darryl Sutter coached his 400th game with the Flames, tying him with Bob Johnson for the most in franchise history. Sutter coached 210 games from 2002-06 and 190 games since returning in 2020. He is 208-136-41 with 15 ties.