CHICAGO (AP) — Back at home after a disastrous trip, the depleted Chicago Blackhawks desperately needed an encouraging performance.
With Colin Blackwell leading the way, they got one.
Blackwell had two goals and an assist, and Chicago beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 on Sunday in the Blackhawks' first game since Connor Bedard was sidelined by a broken jaw.
“I think you can create a storyline for each game and each part of the season,” Chicago defenseman Connor Murphy said, “and for us, I think that's a great way to go at it now, is realizing we have a lot of guys out and for everyone to come and band together quick and win games by work ethic, really.”
Nikita Zaitsev added a goal and an assist for last-place Chicago, which had dropped five in a row and seven of eight overall. Philipp Kurashev also scored, and Petr Mrazek made 28 saves.
Bedard’s jaw was fractured when the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft was hit by New Jersey defenseman Brendan Smith during Friday night's 4-2 loss to the Devils. Chicago then lost Nick Foligno when he broke a finger on his left hand in a fight with Smith.
Nazem Kadri had two goals for Calgary, which closed out a 2-2-0 road trip after losing 3-2 at Philadelphia on Saturday. Andrew Mangiapane also scored, and Jonathan Huberdeau had two assists.
“Not good enough," Flames forward Mikael Backlund said. "If we want to be a playoff team, that’s a game we’ve got to win, find a way to win. Yeah, it wasn’t good enough.”
Blackwell scored the first goal of the game with a well-placed wrist shot 4:32 into the first period. He made it 4-2 with a power-play goal with 5:23 left, beating Dan Vladar on the goaltender's glove side.
“A lot of guys stepped up today and I thought we had a great team effort,” Blackwell said. “When you do the little things like that and we get good special teams, we come out with a victory.”
Calgary got one back on Kadri's 13th of the season with 4:41 remaining, but Chicago held on in the final minutes.
“Today not the best," Kadri said. “Obviously walking out of here, .500 road trip, which is OK, but we felt like it could have been better.”
Each team had to deal with an unfortunate deflection in the second period.
Calgary took a 2-1 lead at 3:26 when Mangiapane's power-play shot from the side banked in off Murphy's right skate. Mangiapane was credited with his eighth goal of the season.
After Kurashev tied it with his eighth, Zaitsev's big slap shot from beyond the right circle went in off the right skate of Flames defenseman Nick DeSimone for a 3-2 lead with 5:11 left in the period. It was Zaitsev's second goal.
With nine players on injured reserve, including eight forwards, the Blackhawks went with seven defensemen against the Flames. There has been no word on how long Bedard and Foligno will be out.
The 18-year-old Bedard was off to an impressive start in his first season, leading the Blackhawks with 15 goals and 18 assists.
“Still just evaluating how he's doing and settling down,” coach Luke Richardson said. “We know there's a jaw fracture, but it's swollen so I think the doctors are just giving it a few days to see how it settles.”
Richardson inserted Zach Sanford into the lineup after the veteran forward was claimed off waivers from Arizona on Saturday, but Rem Pitlick had some travel issues after he was acquired in a trade with Pittsburgh.
UP NEXT
Flames: Host Ottawa on Tuesday night.
Blackhawks: Host Edmonton on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Jay Cohen, The Associated Press