Blackhawks vs Flames: Recap, Score, 3 Stars

The Blackhawks came out on the losing end of their Western Conference matchup Monday night against the Calgary Flames, with a 5-2 game that was competitive all night long. The Hawks record now sits at 25-40-11 with six games left this season, while the Flames record improves to 47-20-9 with their win. The team doesn't play again until they make their way to Arizona on Thursday for a meeting with the Coyotes, who currently sit at 22-29-5.

Period by Period Recap

1st Period

CGY Goal: Dube (A: Hanifin, Coleman)

CGY Goal: Gaudreau (A: Tkachuk, Zadorov)

CHI Goal: Johnson (A: Toews, Kubalik)

CGY Goal: Coleman (A: Kylington)

2nd Period

CHI Goal: Regula (A: Debrincat, McCabe)

3rd Period

CGY Goal: Gaudreau (A: Tkachuk)

CGY Goal: Kylington (A: Markstrom)

3 Stars

First: Jacob Markstrom - Markstrom stopped 22 of 24 shots en route to his 36th win of the season.

Second: Alec Regula - Regula scores his first NHL goal, added a hit and was +1 with 18:45 TOI

Third: Johnny Gaudreau - Gaudreau moves up to 107 points on the season with his two point performance against the Blackhawks

Final Thoughts

The Blackhawks will finish second last in the Central division this season, so the loss to the Flames doesn't hurt too much. In fact, there were some real positives in the game last night. The team was able to keep up with a powerhouse opponent until the final minutes of the third period, and forced the game to have quite the interesting finish. I thought Lankinen played really well stopping 30 of 33 shots against, and I also thought Regula had a solid game overall. The team plays the Coyotes Thursday in a battle of the bottom of the Central, with Lankinen being the expected starter for the Blackhawks, and Vejmelka being the expected starter for the Yotes.