CALGARY — The last-place Chicago Blackhawks ended an eight-game losing skid on Tuesday and, at the same time, dealt the Calgary Flames‘ playoff hopes a crippling blow.
Andreas Athanasiou scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the third period as Chicago snapped a 2-2 tie with goals 88 seconds apart early in the period and then hung on for a 4-3 victory.
“Obviously we know some teams are fighting for playoff spots and it’s a good way to come into a game and be a heartbreaker,” said Athanasiou. “All the boys want to come out here and play hard and first and foremost try to get the win.”
Chicago took its third lead of the night at 1:43 of the third taking advantage of the second costly mistake of the night by Flames’ centre Nazem Kadri.
With control of the puck in the neutral zone, Kadri had the puck stolen off his stick by Athanasiou, who raced past him and in on a two-on-one, where he finished off a give-and-go with Lukas Reichel.
“It was a good challenge for us,” said Reichel, who had two assists. “They’re still in the playoff run so we wanted to give everything, give 100 per cent.”
That’s goals in three straight games for Athanasiou, who before that had gone 14 games without scoring. He’s up to 18 goals on the season.
“I don’t think I’ve changed really anything. Just go out there and work and whenever you get the chances just bear down. Fortunate enough they’ve been going in right now,” Athanasiou said.
The Blackhawks opened up their first two-goal lead when a bouncing puck hopped past Rasmus Andersson inside the Chicago end resulting in another two-on-one. This time, Austin Wagner kept the puck himself, toe-dragging around sliding defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, and firing a shot past Jacob Markstrom.
“Frustrating. Turnovers cost us the hockey game, for sure,” said Flames coach Darryl Sutter. “You can see the fatigue. When you don’t have great legs, you just got to keep your game really simple. Some of us didn’t manage the puck very well.”
Mikael Backlund got one back for the Flames at 13:09 of the third, but that’s as close as they would get despite pouring on the pressure in the final couple minutes with the goalie pulled.
“Urgency was not at the level you’d want us to be at in such an important game,” said Backlund. “Tied 2-2 going into the third. That’s where we’ve got to push and they did it to us instead.”
With only four games left in the Flames’ regular season, Calgary remains two points back of Winnipeg for the second wild-card berth in the Western Conference.
The Jets, who host the Flames on Wednesday, have a game in hand and also own the tiebreaker.
“A couple of mistakes here and there and then it ends up in our net and then we don’t really generate a whole lot,” said visibly frustrated Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson. “We weren’t good enough today. All of us got to play better tomorrow.”
Jujhar Khaira also scored for Chicago (25-46-6). The Blackhawks swept the season series, winning all three games.
Tyler Toffoli, with his team-leading 34th goal, and Noah Hanifin also scored for Calgary (36-27-15), which saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.
Petr Mrazek made 33 stops for Chicago to get the win. He’s 9-21-3.
Markstrom made 19 stops for Calgary. Starting for the 16th time in the last 17 games, his record falls to 22-21-10.
The home side came out flat in the first period, falling behind 2-1 and being outshot 11-7.
The go-ahead goal with 38 seconds to go in the period came when Kadri, with one hand on his stick, tried to shovel the puck along the end boards, but it was intercepted by Boris Katchouk, who set up Khaira in front.
“Just turned it over,” said Kadri. “The ice was getting a little chippy there at the end of the period. Gotta simplify your game and can’t make those mistakes.”
The Flames wrestled back momentum in the second period, outshooting the visitors 19-4 and getting a goal from Hanifin at 11:44 to pull even, but they would never lead on this night.
Now Calgary’s playoff hopes are hanging by a thread.
“Besides those mishaps, we had a lot of opportunities and certainly some positives but at the end of the day, you gotta find ways to win and tonight we didn’t,” said Kadri.
TANEV MAKES IMPRESSION IN RETURN
Calgary welcomed veteran defenceman Chris Tanev (upper-body injury) back to their top-four on the blue line after he missed six games. Playing on a pairing with Hanifin, Tanev got a roar from the Saddledome crowd in the first period when he threw a heavy open-ice hit on Jason Dickinson.
CHICAGO DOMINANCE
In addition to sweeping the season series, Chicago improves to 9-2-4 in their last 15 games against the Flames.
UPCOMING
Blackhawks: Travel to Vancouver to play the Canucks on Thursday.
Flames: Back in action Wednesday, playing the Jets in Winnipeg.