5 Things - Flames @ Blackhawks

1. Last Time Out

Jacob Markstrom was, yet again, brilliant.

He made 39 saves Saturday against the Flyers in Philly – including 22 in the second period alone – but the Flames fell 3-2 to the homeside in a matinee tilt, ending a three-game win streak.

Click here for the game recap

Markstrom has a save percentage north of .930 in his last seven starts since returning from injury.

“He's been a brick wall for us,” said Mackenzie Weegar, who scored for the Flames. “He's a leader for us, he's so positive. That game, I think, could've gotten a little out of hand if he wasn't there for us tonight. The whole time that he's come back, he's been outstanding for us and we was definitely our best player tonight.”

More on Weegar below in Players To Watch.

Jonathan Huberdeau also tallied for Calgary, his second goal in his last three outings, and boy was it a beauty. The forward is now 11 games away from hitting 800 in his career.

Calgary had beat the Flyers on New Year’s Eve to start their run of Ws, following it up with victories over the Wild (3-1) and Predators (6-3) to start this four-game road jaunt.

There was no time to dwell on the defeat, though, as the team hopped a plane to Chicago where they will play the second half of back-to-back matinees against the Blackhawks Sunday.

“You've got to leave it behind," said head coach Ryan Huska after the loss. "We have another game tomorrow, we want to come home with a really solid road record on this trip. It's a really important game for us so we have to turn our attention to Chicago.”

This is the first of three meetings this season between the Flames and Blackhawks.

2. Know Your Enemy

When the pucks drops today, rookie sensation Connor Bedard won't be in the lineup for Chicago.

Neither will veteran leader Nick Foligno.

The Blackhawks announced Saturday they had placed the duo on injured reserve, Bedard with a fractured jaw, and Nick Foligno with a fractured finger.

Meanwhile, they got busy filling roster holes trading for Rem Pitlick from Pittsburgh and grabbing Zach Sanford off waivers from Arizona.

Bedard, who leads the rookie scoring race with 15 goals and 33 points in 39 games, was also pacing the team in that department.

“It's horrible,” Blackhawks forward Ryan Donato told NHL.com. “He's a kid that loves being around the rink, being around the game. Take that away from him, I'm sure is a big blow to him and to us.

“It's definitely hard to wrap our heads around. It's so fresh still for us to realize what's going on, but we hope the best for him and hopefully we can keep the guys positive.”

The recent No.-1 overall pick was hurt in the first period of a 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils in the team's last outing on Friday. Chicago has now lost four straight and is 2-7-1 in its last 10 games.

3. Fast Facts

Back-to-Backs:

The Flames are in the midst of their fifth back-to-back set of the season. The Flames' previous four back-to-back scenarios came on (Nov. 24 at Dallas, Nov. 25 at Denver), (Oct. 19 at Buffalo, Oct. 20 at Columbus), (Nov. 10 at Toronto, Nov. 11 at Ottawa), (Dec. 11 at Colorado, Dec. 12 at Vegas). Calgary has a record of 2-2-1 in the first half of back-to-backs and a record of 0-4-0 in the second half of back-to-backs. Following this, the Flames will have three more back-to-back sets this season with their next coming on March 9-10 at Florida and Carolina.

The Bread Man Delivers:

Andrew Mangiapane is two points away from 200 in his career, and four helpers away from 100.

4. Did You Know?

Following today’s tilt with the Blackhawks, the Flames won’t play their next matinee until Feb. 10 when they face the Islanders at UBS Arena at 11 a.m. MT.

5. Players to Watch

Flames - MacKenzie Weegar

Weegar’s tally in Saturday’s loss was his ninth of the season, which set a new high-water mark in that department for him. Worth noting the only other Flames defenceman in the past nine seasons with as many goals through 39 games in a season was former captain Mark Giordano (10 in 2015-16).

Blackhawks - Jason Dickinson

The former first-round pick (29th overall selection in 2013 by Dallas) is second in Chicago goals behind Bedard (13) and scored in the loss to Jersey.