Dickinson scores twice, Blackhawks defeat Flames

CHICAGO – Jason Dickinson scored twice for the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-1 victory against the Calgary Flames at United Center on Tuesday.

“I mean, I'm happy to walk out of a game with zero points and a win on any night,” said Dickinson, who has a career-high 20 goals this season. “I don't really care to be on the stat sheet when we're winning, but when we're losing and I'm not contributing, it definitely hurts a lot more because it feels like I'm not pulling my weight.

“I don't think anybody should ever be not looking at 20 goals and being very proud of themselves. It's a [heck] of an achievement. I've never cracked 10 before in this league, so I did 20 this year. So, it's fantastic, but there's still 10 games to go and lots of hockey to play.”

Petr Mrazek made 38 saves for the Blackhawks (21-46-5), who have won two in a row after defeating the San Jose Sharks 5-4 in overtime on Saturday. Landon Slaggert had two assists for his first two NHL points.

“Yeah, I thought the first period was excellent,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. “We were flying, we were physical and dominant in a lot of areas and really didn’t let them have a chance to get going. The second period, we laid off a little bit, but I liked our third. I thought we played well and got some spark back and had some better line rushes and better battles. So, it was good overall.”

MacKenzie Weegar scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves for the Flames (33-33-5), who have lost four in a row.

“We need to get back to just playing simple hockey and getting our work ethic,” Weegar said. “We’ve got to play for each other, what have you done for me lately kind of mentality. Guys got to start taking this opportunity and running away with it.”

Seth Jones gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead at 3:35 of the first period with a one-timer from the high slot on the power play.

“Penalty aside, I didn’t like our first period,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said. “I don’t think we were connected at all. We had defensemen and forwards not on the same page. In the second and third, we got better, but I don’t like the way we started the game tonight.”

Dickinson made it 2-0 at 15:15, finishing a 2-on-1 rush with a one-timer from the right face-off circle off a pass from Joey Anderson.

Dickinson then pushed it to 3-0 at 4:15 of the third period with a one-timer in the slot off a pass from Anderson from below the goal line.

Slaggert appeared to score his first NHL goal to make it 4-0 at 7:23, but a video review determined that the puck did not cross the goal line.

“Yeah, I was hoping for it,” Slaggert said. “But I guess it just wasn't in the cards tonight. It's awesome playing with some pretty great players in [Dickinson] and Joey. They just kind of helped me out there, and I thought we created a lot of offense today.

“Honestly, I couldn't tell you what was going through my mind. I thought it went in, but then I turned around, the spotlight came on, so I think there was definitely some confusion for a second there. But yeah, I guess I have to wait a little longer for it.”

Weegar cut the lead to 3-1 at 12:25 with a wrist shot through traffic from the high slot.

“Overall in the first we weren’t good enough,” Flames captain Mikael Backlund said. “We didn’t come out and play as hard as we can with the pace that we know we can play with. I thought we came out and played a little better in the second and third, but still, it’s not up to our standards. We know we can play better. Yeah, we’ve dug ourselves a big hole here losing four in a row. Now we’ve got to find a way to get out of it.”