Flames Fall In Windy City

CHICAGO - The Flames finished off their four-game road trip with a 4-3 loss to the Blackhawks Sunday.

It was the second game of back-to-back matinee tilts, the Flames falling 3-2 to the Flyers in Philly on Saturday.

They beat the Wild and Predators to start the jaunt.

Nazem Kadri had a pair, and Andrew Mangiapane also scored for the Flames, while Jonathan Huberdeau had a pair of assists. Dan Vladar made 16 saves between the pipes.

The Flames fell back under .500, now sitting at 17-18-5.

The Blackhawks were without young sensation Connor Bedard, who suffered a broken jaw in the team’s 4-2 loss to the Devils on Friday and was placed on IR Saturday.

The homeside opened the scoring at 4:32 when Jarred Tinordi sprung Colin Blackwell along the left-wing boards and he pulled up around a trailing Nick DeSimone and snapped a shot farside over the shoulder of Vladar.

It looked like Elias Lindholm tied the game up less than a minute later when Huberdeau slung a long cross-ice pass to him as he hit the binders in front of the net with Kevin Korchinski on his back, the puck eventually sliding in and a goal signalled.

Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson challenged saying there was goaltender interference on Petr Mrazek and after a lengthy review, the officials agreed and overturned the call.

Kadri would later strike at 13:12, standing all alone by the right post and tipping a slap pass from Noah Hanifin in, with Martin Pospisil – who made a great move to get the puck to Hanifin – also picking up a helper.

The Flames had a couple good chances on a Blackhawks powerplay later in the period, Mrazek getting a piece of a Dillon Dube shot and deflecting it high, followed by a cross-ice pass from Blake Coleman to a wide-open Yegor Sharangovich on 2-on-1– who was loaded up for a one-timer – but the puck deflecting off the stick of a Chicago defenceman.

With time winding down, Vladar made a stop on a point shot through traffic by Boris Katchouk, the rebound falling right in the bluepaint where Reese Johnson got a whack at it but the Flames ‘tender kicked out his left pad to deny him.

Kadri drew his third tripping penalty in the last games, sending the Flames to a powerplay 2:47 into the second period and the Flames converted.

Weegar fed Huberdeau who slung a cross-seam pass to Mangiapane in the right faceoff dot and his pass attempt to Coleman on the doorstep went off the skate of Connor Murphy and past Mrazek for his eighth of the season at 3:26.

Vladar came up big to preserve that lead just over a minute later when he stoned Cole Guttman on a breakaway.

Philipp Kurashev tied it up again at 12:08, when he pounced on a losse puck in the slot and spun and fired, the puck deflecting off the stick of Rasmus Andersson and past Vladar.

Nikita Zaitsev put Chicago ahead when his clapper from up near the blueline went off the skate of Nick DeSimone and into the net.

Blackwell would add a powerplay marker in the third at 14:37 but less than a minute later, Kadri scored from a tight angle to keep the game close down the stretch.

The Lineup:

The trios and d-pairs to start the tilt in Chicago:

Forwards

Jonathan Huberdeau - Elias Lindholm - Yegor Sharangovich

Andrew Mangiapane - Mikael Backlund - Blake Coleman

Connor Zary - Nazem Kadri - Martin Pospisil

A.J. Greer - Dillon Dube - Walker Duehr

Defence

Noah Hanifin - Chris Tanev

MacKenzie Weegar - Rasmus Andersson

Jordan Oesterle - Nick DeSimone

Goalies

Dan Vladar - starter

Jacob Markstrom

They Said It:

The Numbers Game:

Shots: CGY 31, CHI 21

Powerplay: CGY 1-3, CHI 1-3

Faceoffs: CGY 56.9%, CHI 43.1%

Blocked Shots: CGY 15, CHI 22

Hits: CGY 17, CHI 16

Takeaways: CGY 4, CHI 10

Up Next:

The Flames return to the Scotiabank Saddledome ice to host the Senators Tuesday (7 p.m. MT, click for tickets) before heading right back out for another two-game road set in Phoenix and Las Vegas.