Bedard Hits 100 Points, Blackhawks Fall To Flames 5-2

The Blackhawks suffered their third consecutive loss on Monday, January 13th, when they fell to the Calgary Flames by a score of 5-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome. This result further emphasizes the team’s need for significant improvement. Connor Bedard, whose nine-game point streak had recently been snapped in a 4-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, hit 100 points in his NHL career when he scored the second goal for Chicago in this game, and Louis Crevier also scored for the Blackhawks. Despite the loss, Petr Mrazek made 31 saves in a valiant effort to keep the Blackhawks in the game. It had been an amazing victory for the Flames as they extended their winning streak to three after losing two straight games. Jakob Pelletier led Calgary’s offensive charge with a three-point night, scoring two goals and picking up an assist, contributing significantly to their victory over Chicago. Rory Kerins made his NHL debut, collecting two assists for the Flames. The Blackhawks head out on the road to Nashville in search of a win on Thursday, and the Flames hope to continue their win streak when they head to St. Louis on Tuesday.

Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:

Bertuzzi – Bedard – Mikheyev

Foligno – Dickinson – Teravainen

Dach – Nazar – Reichel

Hall – Donato – Maroon

Martinez – Jones

Vlasic – Crevier

Allan – Kasier

Mrazek

Soderblom

Calgary Flames Lineup:

Huberdeau – Kadri – Pospisil

Coleman – Backlund – Coronato

Kerins – Sharangovich – Pelletier

Lomberg – Rooney – Duehr

Bahl – Andersson

Hanley – Weegar

Bean – Pachal

Wolf

Vladar

Jakob Pelletier got the party started early into the opening frame at 18:46 for his second goal of the season, putting the Flames ahead 1-0 when he took a drop pass from Rory Kerins, who received the puck from Brayden Pachel who had been down below the blue line in their zone, and Kerins carried it through the neutral zone, handing it over to Pelletier just below the right circle. Pelletier went on to fire a wrist shot through the legs of Seth Jones and past the stick of Petr Mrazek. Kerins got the assist, the point coming on his first NHL shift. Not long after the Calgary goal, Louis Crevier tied it up to 1-1 at 17:22 to record his second goal of the season after moving in from the point, scoring off a wrister from the top of the right face-off circle. Off a rebound of a long shot from Kevin Bahl, Pelletier broke the tie with 8:14 on the clock for his second of the night to make it 2-1. Kerins recorded his second assist of the game on the second Flames tally. Matt Coronato extended Calgary’s lead to 3-1 with 5:52 left to play in the first after he carried the puck out of their zone, taking it into Chicago’s zone, and passed it off to Blake Coleman, who took it up to the side of the net and attempted to pass it back to him. The pass was intercepted, Seth Jones tried to get it out from the front of the net, but Coronato got ahold of it, finding the back of the net.

Early into the second period, Jake Bean struck his second goal of the season to give the Flames a 4-1 lead when he put in the rebound of a shot by Yegor Sharangovich that bounced off the end boards at 18:05. Connor Bedard grabbed his 12th of the season, along with his 100th NHL career point to cut it to 4-2 on the power play with 8:31 left in the middle frame. Bedard found the puck along the right boards after it had been passed along from the left side, sent it over to Teuvo Teravainen, who passed it to Seth Jones, and then the puck found its way back to Bedard, who fired from the right circle for the second Chicago goal of the night.

Yegor Sharangovich found his seventh goal of the season on a short-handed goal with 6:23 left of regulation when he scored on the penalty kill for the 5-2 final.

Game Notes:

– Connor Bedard, who’s played in 112 NHL games so far in his career, required the fewest games by a teenager to reach up to 100 career points since Sidney Crosby; 80 games in 2005-06.

– Chicago: 14-28-2, Calgary: 21-14-7

– Dustin Wolf made a total of 23 saves for Calgary, and is 7-1-1 in his past nine starts.

– The Calgary Flames have a three-game win streak and have won four of six.

– Rory Kerins gathered a pair of assists in his NHL debut. Only four other players in Calgary Flames history have collected multiple assists in their debut: Kevin LaVallee (three assists on October 9th, 1980), Sergei Makarov (one goal, two assists on October 5th, 1989), Yves Courteau (two assists on October 13th, 1984), and Kent Nilsson (one goal, two assists on October 10th, 1979).