Matthew Tkachuk on Tuesday broke a tie on a fortunate bounce with 5 minutes, 35 seconds left to lead the Calgary Flames in a 5-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.
The win was the Flames’ fourth straight victory.
Tkachuk’s centering pass went off the skate of Chicago defenseman Seth Jones and over the shoulder of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to give Calgary a 3-2 lead.
Photo: AFP
Trevor Lewis and Johnny Gaudreau each added an empty-net goal for the Flames (12-3-5), who sit alone atop the Western Conference.
“People don’t realize how big those goals are when we have a chance to put a team away,” Tkachuk said.
Dillon Dube and Milan Lucic also scored for Calgary, who have earned at least one point in seven consecutive games. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves.
Reese Johnson had a goal and an assist — his first two NHL points — to lead the offense for Chicago (6-11-2). Brandon Hagel also scored.
“It’s obviously nice to contribute,” Johnson said. “I want to be able to do that more, get some greasy ones in front of the net, but obviously we want to come out of that with two points.”
Coming off a 40-save shutout on Sunday against Vancouver, Fleury had a tough start to the night, getting beaten twice on the first six shots that he faced before slamming the door until late in the third period. He finished with 34 stops and fell to 5-8-0.
“When he starts seeing pucks and we start giving up too many chances, he gets better and better,” Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. “He backs us up when we’re not so good in front of him. We don’t want to have to rely on him to do that every single night. We have to help him and do things better in front of him.”
Having won five of six entering Tuesday’s game, Chicago finished their road trip 2-2.
Both Blackhawks goals were the result of costly turnovers.
After the Flames grabbed the lead just 1:19 into the game, Hagel tied it at 8:57 when Tyler Pitlick coughed up the puck along the sideboards and Hagel whipped a quick shot into the top corner.
Lucic’s goal at 13:06 gave Calgary a 2-1 lead after the first period, but Chicago tied the game at 3:51 into the second period on another freebie.
From behind the net, Markstrom’s pass attempt to Elias Lindholm went off the heel of Lindholm’s stick and was promptly fired into an open net by Johnson.
After that miscue, Markstrom made a string of saves to keep the game tied.
First, he squeezed a dangerous shot from Patrick Kane from 7m out as he broke in off the right wing.
On his next shift, Kane got a breakaway, only to see Markstrom turn him aside again, getting a blocker on a shot that also ticked off the post.
Later in the period, Markstrom jabbed out his pad to make a skate save on Kirby Dach.
Right after that, he acrobatically got across the crease to rob Hagel, after he was set up on a two-on-one.
Dube opened the scoring on Calgary’s first shot when he fired a wrister off the left wing, just over Fleury’s pad.
After a hectic stretch of nine games in 15 days — including a seven-game Eastern Conference road trip — Calgary has three days to recharge before facing Winnipeg.
“Probably the toughest stretch of our schedule,” Lucic said. “Starting in Calgary and ending in Calgary — so it just felt like one big, long road trip. But I think we did a good job of managing our energy, managing our rest, being fresh in all nine games.”
Also on Tuesday, it was:
‧ Stars 4, Oilers 1
‧ Lightning 4, Flyers 0
‧ Flames 5, Blackhawks 2
Boston Red Sox pitcher Connelly Early on Tuesday struck out 11 in five shutout innings to match a franchise record during his MLB debut against the Oakland Athletics. “Pretty sick performance,” teammate Romy Gonzalez said. “It was fun to watch.” The only other Red Sox starter to rack up 11 strikeouts in his first career game was Don Aase versus the Milwaukee Brewers on July 26, 1977. “It was amazing, just to go out there and have that first opportunity,” Early said after getting the win in a 6-0 victory. “A long day of travel yesterday and just getting to the field, seeing
‘DEVASTATED’: Argentina’s win was a reversal of their 28-24 defeat last week, with Australian forward Fraser McReight adding that ‘we did the same thing last week’ Argentina flyhalf Santiago Carreras punished an undisciplined Australia with 23 points off the tee as the Pumas held on grimly for a 28-26 win in Sydney yesterday to breathe new life into their Rugby Championship campaign. A try-fest beckoned in afternoon sunshine at Sydney Football Stadium, but Argentina needed only one through captain Julian Montoya, with Carreras doing the damage with seven penalties and a conversion in front of a sell-out crowd. A week after letting a 14-point lead slip in a 28-24 defeat to Australia in Townsville, Argentina saw most of a 21-point advantage erased in the final quarter as the
ELEVEN STRIKEOUTS: Blake Snell allowed two singles and two walks against the Rockies as he ended a personal three-game skid with his first win since Aug. 16 Blake Snell on Wednesday struck out a season-high 11 in six innings, while Mookie Betts hit a grand slam in the eighth as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 9-0 for their fourth straight win. Helped by their third series sweep of the Rockies this MLB season, the Dodgers increased their National League West lead to three games over the San Diego Padres, who lost 2-1 at home to the Cincinnati Reds. Betts went four for five with five RBIs, capped by his seventh career slam on a 3-0 pitch from reliever Anthony Molina to make it 8-0. Andy Pages and
Captain Vijay Kumar led the way yesterday as the Hsinchu Titans claimed the Taiwan Premier League title at the Yingfeng Cricket Ground in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), beating PCCT by 27 runs. The weather was a topic again, but not the rain that played a role in previous matches in the often-delayed tournament. Kumar, who made 80 not out from 63 deliveries, and teammate Vishwajit Kumar (58 from 43) rescued the Titans from a precarious state at the end of the power play in the T20 match. The visitors were put in to bat and struggled to 26-3 as PCCT
RSS