Stop us if you’ve heard this one before.

The Calgary Flames visited to Chicago on Tuesday night to face an opponent that, on paper, they were out-matched by. The Flames, however, battled and hustled and did their level best to make a game of it. But as has become too common this year, the Flames stuck around but managed to find ways to lose a close game.

A puck-handling miscue by their goaltender, a bad bounce off a defender’s skate and some very nice execution by Chicago at key times paced the Flames to a 5-2 road loss to the Blackhawks.

The first 10 minutes of the game were pretty even, but Chicago got some momentum and scored in the latter half of the period.

The two teams exchanged power plays midway through the period. Chicago scored 20 seconds after the Flames’ penalty ended to take a 1-0 lead. Ryan Donato’s shot was blocked by Jake Bean, then Louis Crevier’s shot was blocked by Nazem Kadri, and Donato collected the bouncing puck and fired it past Dustin Wolf to give the home side the lead.

The Flames challenged the goal for goalie interference due to Sam Lafferty hanging around the crease area, but the goal was upheld.

First period shots were 6-5 Blackhawks. Via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5 scoring chances were 11-5 Blackhawks and high-danger scoring chances were 4-2 Blackhawks.

The Flames were on their heels for a good chunk of the second period, including a brief five-on-three penalty kill after Jake Bean and Kevin Bahl took minors right after each other.

The Blackhawks added to their lead on, frankly, a weird play and a bad break for Wolf. The Flames, after being on their back foot for much of the period, were pressing in the offensive zone in an effort to tie things up. Sam Rinzel collected a loose puck and threw a high pass into the Flames zone, where it trickled towards the net, pursued by Connor Bedard. Wolf went to play the puck away from Bedard… and missed the puck. Bedard whacked the loose puck through Wolf’s legs and into the open net to give Chicago a 2-0 lead.

But the Flames managed to answer back late in the period. Connor Zary drew a penalty in the offensive zone and after the Flames won the face-off in the offensive zone, Matt Coronato converted a back-door pass from Nazem Kadri to cut Chicago’s lead to 2-1.

Second period shots were 9-7 Blackhawks. 5v5 scoring chances were 9-7 Blackhawks and high-danger scoring chances were 3-0 Blackhawks.

Early in the second period, the Flames tied things up. The fourth line did a nice job hemming Chicago in with a dogged forecheck, and eventually Mikael Backlund (who joined the shift mid-cycle) found Rasmus Andersson pinching from the point. Andersson beat Arvid Soderblom to tie the game at 2-2.

But shortly after that, Chicago retook the lead. Ryan Greene entered the Flames zone and made a really nice cross-zone pass to Bedard on the opposite wing. Bedard’s shot eluded Wolf to give Chicago a 3-2 edge.

The Flames kept pressing in an attempt to tie the game. But Chicago stole the puck and headed up ice on an odd-man rush. Frank Nazar attempted to cut to the front of the net. He lost control of the puck and it bounced off Bahl’s skate and past Wolf to give Chicago a 4-2 lead.

The Flames pressed late and pulled Wolf for the extra attacker, but they weren’t able to get anything more past Soderblom. Bedard completed his hat trick with an empty-netter late to give Chicago a 5-2 win.

Third period shots were 9-9.

Let’s give the lads credit: they battled hard and played a pretty good road game. This was a rematch against a team that beat the Flames on home ice recently, and you could tell that the Flames were dialed in. The Flames played their game, for the most part, kept this as a low-event hockey game, but still lost.

The big reasons are pretty simple: they made just enough mistakes in their own end to lose and weren’t able to overcome them, while Chicago’s star players made big plays at key times.

Man, Rasmus Andersson was really good in this game. He’s been pretty good, and consistently, for the bulk of this season, but he was really noticeable every time he hit the ice in this one.

We’ll also give a shout-out to Sam Morton. The Flames claimed John Beecher off waivers earlier in the day, and so Morton’s ostensible replacement was waiting in the wings when this game began. But Morton was really effective in this game.

The Flames tied the game in the third period. And then less than two minutes later, Connor Bedard scored to retake the lead for Chicago. After clawing their way back from a 2-0 deficit, it was a bridge too far for the road team.

The Flames made two lineup changes from Saturday night, sending Rory Kerins to the Wranglers and Sam Honzek to the injury reserve. They were replaced by Yegor Sharangovich and Sam Morton.

The Flames claimed John Beecher off waivers earlier on Tuesday; per Sportsnet’s Jon Abbott, he’s expected to meet the team in Buffalo and could debut on Wednesday against the Sabres.

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

The Flames (5-13-3) are headed to Buffalo. They visit the Sabres on Wednesday evening.

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