In Calgary, the Flames returned to form, in a 4-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Just when they needed a win, they lost, to the Blackhawks.
Andreas Athanasiou hit for a double for Chicago.
“Any game you come into you want to win,” Athanasiou said. “Obviously, we know some teams are fighting for playoff spots and it’s a good way to come into a game and kind of be a heartbreaker a little bit. All the boys want to come out here and play hard, and first and foremost try to get the win.”
The Blackhawks moved to 25-46-6 after snapping an eight-game skid.
Petr Mrazek made 33 saves in the Chicago win.
Calgary had a chance to gain on the idle Winnipeg Jets; the Flames dropped to 36-27-15, and had the opportunity to tie the Jets for the second wild card.
As it is, the loss permitted the Nashville Predators clawed their way to within one of the Flames and three of the Jets when they defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, on Tuesday.
“I thought we had urgency, just maybe sometimes you might want it too much, and that might’ve happened tonight,” Calgary defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “When you try to make that play all the time instead of letting it come to you, it’s frustrating. Right back at it. Big game tomorrow.”
Tyler Toffoli and Mikael Backlund scored for the Flames.
“If we want to keep our season alive and we want to keep our playoff hopes alive, we’ve got to forget about everything to this point and win one game tomorrow,” Backlund said.
Calgary faces off with the Jets on Wednesday night.
“We weren’t playing with the pace, execution that we wanted,” Backlund said. “I think urgency was not at the level you’d want us to be at in such an important game. Tied 2-2 going into the third, that’s where we’ve got to push, and they did it to us instead. I thought the second we dominated the period, and we came back and had a chance to win the game in the third and gave up two right away.”
Noah Hanifin also scored for the Flames.
“I think overall with the game we could’ve executed a lot of things better and helped ourselves in a better way,” Backlund said.
Jujhar Khaira and Austin Wagner added single markers for the Blackhawks in the win.
“Eight-game losing streak, obviously not good, but I think it was a good response,” Chicago’s Lukas Reichel said. “They’re still in the playoff run, so we kind of wanted to give everything, give 100 percent. It was a good challenge for us. I’m glad we won.”
Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves in the loss.
“It’s unfortunate,” the Flames’ Nazem Kadri said. “Off a couple bounces, they take advantage of a couple mistakes and it ended up costing us.”
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