FLAMES GROUND HAWKS AGAIN
Back-to-back wins cap season sweep
FLAMES 3, BLACK HAWKS 2
CHICAGO The last two times the Calgary Flames squared off with the Chicago Blackhawks, the games went into extra time.
But at the United Center on Tuesday night, goals were hard to come by in an eventual 3-2 decision in favour of the visitors.
Both teams, familiar with the other’s style having seen each other only three nights ago, were clogging up the neutral zone and blocking shots and not willing to give an inch.
That is, until the Blackhawks did. And that inch, just a few inches above Johnny Gaudreau’s head, proved to be the difference.
With 3:30 remaining in the third period, Michael Stone sent a point shot toward the net and, simultaneously, Gaudreau lifted his stick. The puck sailed past Jeff Glass, which prompted the pro-Blackhawks building to call for a high-sticking infraction.
The play was reviewed but the goal stood and it gave the Flames their second straight win.
“I know (Gaudreau) deflected it, but it hit somewhere low on his shaft … it didn’t take them long to look at it and figure it was a good goal,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “The stick is high, but it hits low on the shaft and goes in.
“You get some calls ... and sometimes you don’t.”
Stone just shot the darn puck. “To be completely honest with you, I didn’t even see it,” Stone said. “I didn’t even know it went into the net, to be honest with you. So, I’ll take that one.
“It was little bit of a weird game. Kind of back and forth ... it was just one of those games.”
It was also their third straight win over the Blackhawks to wrap up the season series 3-0.
“I don’t think this was nearly the hockey game that the last one was,” Gulutzan said. “Especially from our side. I thought they took the play to us in the first two periods. I think we only had nine shots at the nine-minute mark of the sec- ond. We played a better third. But I think we have to play more than one period on the road to get the job done.
“We’ve played better and not gotten points, but we have to play a lot better on the road.”
Before the Flames’ game-winning goal from Stone and an empty netter from Sean Monahan with 1:51 remaining, Mike Smith was out-of-this worldly. Again.
Despite the team breaking down on one of the last plays of the game — with 5.1 seconds remaining as Patrick Kane potted his 21st of the season — the 35-year-old netminder repelled a pile of shots in the third period and was particularly amazing on a late penalty kill.
Smith stopped 34 of 36 attempts to improve to 22-15-6, while the Flames’ record improved to 14-55 on the road and 27-18-8 overall.
“It wasn’t the prettiest game that I’ve ever been a part of, but we found a way to get two points andthat’s huge for our team,” Smith said. “We’ll take it and move on. Obviously, with the travel day we had (Monday), the energy wasn’t where it needed to be for a big game like this. But you have to grind through that and we found a way.”
The Flames, down 1-0 heading into the second period, jumped on a neutral zone turnover by the boards and headed up ice. Monahan and Dougie Hamilton walked in on Duncan Keith and Glass tried to play Monahan, thinking he’d shoot the puck. Instead, the Flames centre sent a pass over to Hamilton, who knotted the score.
The Hawks looked to have pulled ahead when Tom as J ur co and Ryan Hartman battled in front of Smith as the puck slid past the goal-line. But the Flames challenged and it was determined Hartman committed goalie interference.
An early Blackhawks power-play marker from Alex DeBrincat put the home boys on the board with just 3:35 elapsed.
“I think we have better hockey we know we can play,” Smith said. “That’s a positive coming out of that game. We found a way to get a win and on the road to start a trip, that’s big. We want to take that momentum into Jersey and keep rolling.”
The Flames’ six-game road trip continues in New Jersey Thursday (5 p.m. MT, Sportsnet West, Sportsnet 960 The Fan).