Flames host Blackhawks, aiming for third straight victory

With back-to-back victories for the first time this season, the Calgary Flames will try to make it three in a row when they host the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.

The Flames, who opened the season with a 4-3 shootout win at Edmonton, then won just once over a 12-game stretch before defeating Philadelphia, 2-1, on Sunday and followed that up with 5-1 victory over visiting Columbus on Wednesday.

Lack of scoring has been a major reason for the slow start for Calgary, which sits last in the NHL standings with 10 points in 15 games. The Flames rank 31st out of 32 teams with an average of 2.33 goals per game and have scored two goals or less nine times, including five games with just one goal.

However, Wednesday's win marked the second time in six games that Calgary hit the five-goal mark in a game. The Flames needed just 92 seconds to jump out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Morgan Frost and Blake Coleman.

"Pucks are starting to go in, so we've just got to stay with the way we play and play hard," Coleman, who leads the team with six goals, said. "A lot of games that we weren't winning a couple weeks ago we deserved a better fate in. We knew eventually it would turn. That's just the way the game works."

Getting off to a quick start is key according to forward Joel Farabee.

"If we keep starting games like that, we're a tough team to play against," Farabee said. "When we're on our toes and putting pressure on the other team, we're going to create a lot of turnovers and get our chances. The first 10 games or so the puck wasn't going in for us, and now it is."

Despite the slow start to the season, the Flames, last in the Pacific Division, are just six points out of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

"It feels good to start getting some wins," Coleman said. "Usually that's a contagious feeling in the room and we can build on it."

Chicago will be playing the fifth game of a season-high six-game road trip that began with losses at Winnipeg, Edmonton and Seattle before a 5-2 victory at Vancouver on Wednesday.

The contest with the Canucks was 0-0 after two periods before the Blackhawks exploded for four goals in the span of 11:37 to start of the third period, highlighted by a hat trick by Tyler Bertuzzi. Connor Bedard added an empty-net goal and an assist and Spencer Knight made a season-high 43 saves for Chicago.

"I thought we were really good in the third," Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said. "We talked about, 'Good teams find a way to win this game. You're on the road. It's 0-0. You probably haven't played your best. Go out and have a great period.' And I thought they did."

The win snapped an 11-game losing streak to Vancouver for the Blackhawks dating back to Jan. 31, 2022.

Bertuzzi became the seventh Blackhawks player in the last 30 years to score a hat trick in a single period and the first since Taylor Raddysh did it in the third period on March 14, 2023. It was his fourth career hat trick.

"He's a guy you appreciate more from ice level than you might from up top," Blashill said. "Skating doesn't always look great but man he wins pucks, and that's kind of who he's always been for me. He's great on that back post."

--Field Level Media