logo
FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Instant Reaction: Flames close out road trip with victory in Chicago
alt
Photo credit: Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Jan 15, 2026, 23:18 EST
Comments
Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below! 
The Calgary Flames closed out their five game road trip on Thursday night with a visit to the United Center to face the Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago scored early, but the Flames locked things down and controlled much of the flow of the game from there on out.
The Flames beat Chicago by a 3-1 score.

The rundown

The Blackhawks opened the scoring 2:38 into the game, scoring on their second shot of the game. Off the rush, Colton Dach found some space and then found Nick Foligno in the slot area, and Foligno fired the puck past Devin Cooley to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
Just after that goal, Nazem Kadri drew a minor. On the resulting power play, Connor Zary drove the net with the puck. He didn’t score but the chaos created by his net drive led to a Yegor Sharangovich goal on the scramble in front to tie the game at 1-1 (and give the Flames their fourth power play goal in two games).
Just after that, MacKenzie Weegar took a penalty. On the resulting power play… Calgary scored again! This time, Mikael Backlund made an astute poke check in the neutral zone, stealing the puck away from Andre Burakovsky and then racing into the Chicago zone, making a quick deke and firing the puck past Spencer Knight to give the Flames a 2-1 lead.
First period shots were 9-6 Blackhawks. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 5-3 Blackhawks and high-danger scoring chances were 3-0 Blackhawks.
Neither team scored in the second period. The period was fairly even, though also fairly low event.
The highlights of the frame were some big hits and some post-whistle extra-curriculars.
Second period shots were 11-9 Flames. 5v5 scoring chances were 8-7 Flames and high-danger scoring chances were 5-3 Flames.
The Blackhawks pressed in the third period, but the Flames did a really nice job avoiding getting hemmed into their own end.
Matt Coronato scored an empty-netter late to give the Flames a 3-1 victory.
Third period shots were 6-5 Flames.

Why the Flames won

How do we say this politely? Uh, the Flames suckered Chicago into playing their style of game. This was a low-event, tight-checking game of hockey. You could argue that it was also a fairly dull 60 minutes of hockey too. This was the type of game the Flames needed during a stretch where they haven’t been scoring a ton, especially on the road.
And when your special teams out-score the other teams by a 2-0 margin, that’s usually a recipe for a win.

Red Warrior

Mikael Backlund had a couple points in the first chunk of this game, and generally played very well.

Turning point

Let’s give it to the Flames scoring back-to-back special teams goals in the first period. The Flames got down early and you could be forgiven if you had uttered the phrase “Here we go again…” But the Flames grabbed the lead before those words could probably be uttered.

This and that

Devin Cooley, now seemingly recovered his illness-fuelled week, started for the second time on this road trip.
Mikael Backlund assisted on Yegor Sharangovich’s first period goal, which gave him his 366th assist with the Flames, putting him past Mark Giordano into sixth place on the franchise’s all-time leaderboard.

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and myself right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (20-23-4) are headed home. They host the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon to kick off a five game homestand.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi

This article is a Presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the best warranty in the business with ten year warranties available. Check out the showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca

News

Breaking News