Blackhawks Continue Road Trip In Calgary
The Chicago Blackhawks lost to the Vancouver Canucks after a late game meltdown yielded two goals. They continue their road trip Monday night against the Calgary Flames.
The Calgary Flames have surged into playoff contention by earning at least a point in 12 of 13 games. The Blackhawks would love to put together a similar run - something they've done in their recent matchups with Calgary.
The Blackhawks will try for their 10 win in 11 games against the Flames as they continue a lengthy road trip Monday night.
Calgary (26-21-7) just missed out on winning seven straight for the first time in five seasons Saturday at home against Los Angeles. The Flames' Alex Tanguay tied it with 8:45 remaining, but the Kings won 4-3 by prevailing in the seventh round of the shootout.
Calgary did push its point streak to seven games (6-0-1) and moved to 8-1-4 in its last 13 contests. The hot streak has lifted the Flames from next to last in the Western Conference to 10th - one point behind eighth-place Los Angeles.
"When you go to the seventh round in the shootout, it's pretty much coin flip. It could have easily turned out our way," Tanguay said. "We know we're not going win all of them. We would have liked two (points), but we have to get ready for another big test Monday."
That test will come against a team that's dropped three of four to slide from seventh to 11th in the tightly bunched West.
After topping Columbus 7-4 in the opener of a six-game trip Tuesday, Chicago (27-21-4) couldn't hold a one-goal lead midway through the third period and lost 4-3 to NHL-leading Vancouver on Friday.
"We can't get frustrated. We got to look at the things we did well," coach Joel Quenneville said. "We got four games in tough buildings on the rest of this trip. We got to find a way to manufacture wins. Let's not just be satisfied with playing well. We got to find a way to win."
The Blackhawks have outscored the Flames 45-24 during their 9-1-0 run in the series, although they suffered their most lopsided defeat of the season at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Nov. 19.
Jarome Iginla's hat trick lifted Calgary to a 7-2 victory as the Flames snapped a seven-game home skid to Chicago. The Blackhawks bounced back to win the rematch 4-2 at the United Center on Dec. 5 as Dave Bolland had two goals and Corey Crawford stopped 22 shots.
Crawford might get another start against the Flames after Turco split back-to-back outings to open the trip. Turco has gone 1-3-1 with a 3.01 goals-against average in his last five starts against Calgary, and the seven goals allowed Nov. 19 were the most of his career.
Chicago will have to wary of Brendan Morrison, who has four goals and six assists during a seven-game point streak, and Tanguay, who has three goals and six assists over that same span.
Bolland has recorded seven goals and three assists in the last nine contests, while Jonathan Toews has two goals and five assists in the last three for the Blackhawks.
Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff has gone 5-0-1 with a 1.92 GAA over his last six games, but he's 1-7-2 with a 4.31 GAA in his last 10 starts against Chicago.
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