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Flames Post-Game: Flames complete their season series sweep in Chicago
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Photo credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Jan 13, 2025, 22:15 ESTUpdated: Jan 14, 2025, 01:11 EST
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Folks, sometimes there are teams that just have your number. And conversely, sometimes there are teams you find a way to beat consistently. This season, the Calgary Flames have managed to play really well against the Chicago Blackhawks.
On Monday night, in the first game of a four game road trip, the Flames completed a sweep of their season series via a 5-2 victory over Chicago at the United Center.

The rundown

The Flames got out to a good start against the Blackhawks. Just over a minute into the game, Chicago iced the puck and head coach Ryan Huska gave Yegor Sharangovich’s line an offensive zone start. They didn’t end up with the puck initially, but they took advantage of the Blackhawks trying to get a line change to get a nice rush into offensive zone. Rory Kerins made a pass to Jakob Pelletier off the zone entry, and Pelletier beat Petr Mrazek inside the far post to give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
Just over a minute later, though, the fourth line were hemmed into their own end and Chicago took advantage to even things up. An attempted breakout pass was intercepted inside the Flames’ zone by Lukas Reichel. He fed Louis Crevier at the point and, with a couple layers of traffic in front, Crevier’s point shot beat Wolf to make it 1-1.
Midway through the period, the Flames took the lead again. This time, Kevin Bahl’s point shot was stopped by Mrazek, but Pelletier battled and jammed in the rebound to make it 2-1 Flames.
The Flames kept attacking and they managed to pad their lead before the end of the period. This time, Matt Coronato and Blake Coleman executed on a nice give-and-go. Mikael Backlund got his stick on Coronato’s shot (after making a nice stick-check on a Chicago defender in-front to allow Coronato to get the shot off) and Calgary had a 3-1 lead.
First period shots were 14-7 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 7-6 Flames (high-danger chances were 4-2 Flames).
Early in the second period, the Flames scored another one off the rush. Yegor Sharangovich’s initial shot missed the net and rebounded off the end boards… where a pinching Jake Bean got to the puck and fired it past Mrazek to make it 4-1 Flames.
The Flames were faced with a bit of adversity midway through the period, as Martin Pospisil crushed Taylor Hall with a hit along the boards. After a review by the officials, Pospisil was given a major and a game misconduct for boarding.
On the resulting power play, Chicago inched a bit closer as Connor Bedard beat Wolf to cut Calgary’s lead to 4-2.
But on the same Chicago power play, the Flames answered back. Jonathan Huberdeau created a turnover and he and Sharangovich went in on an odd-man rush the other way. Sharangovich made a nice move and slid the puck between Mrazek’s legs to make it 5-2 Flames.
Second period shots were 12-10 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 15-7 Flames (high-danger chances were 6-3 Flames).
The third period was fairly uneventful. Chicago hardly had much offensive zone time in the first 10-12 minutes and the Flames defended pretty well. The Flames’ held their lead and won by a 5-2 score.
Third period shots were 10-8 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 7-6 Blackhawks (high-danger chances were 5-4 Blackhawks).

Why the Flames won

The Flames just did their thing and stayed within their play style. They didn’t have too many big defensive lapses. They executed well with the puck. They out-scored Chicago 4-1 at even strength. This was a pretty prototypical Flames game, all-told.

Red Warrior

Let’s give it to Pelletier, who had his first career three point game in the NHL.
But stick-taps to Kerins for a superb performance in his first NHL appearance.

Turning point

There were a couple points in this game where it felt like maybe Chicago were gaining some momentum. But after Chicago tied things up at 1-1, the Flames answered back to retake the lead. And after Pospisil’s major penalty and Bedard’s goal, Sharangovich’s goal restored the three goal lead.

This and that

This was the NHL debut for Rory Kerins. He played with Sharangovich and Pelletier, and got second unit power play time, too.
This was the first time this season that the Flames scored four five-on-five goals in a game.

Up next

The Flames (21-14-7) are back in action on Tuesday night when they visit the St. Louis Blues to complete this back-to-back set.
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