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Iginla's 45th goal helps Flames scorch Blackhawks

Mar 16, 2008 - 10:47 PM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The Chicago Blackhawks' playoff hopes are not officially over, but they took a huge hit Sunday afternoon.

Captain Jarome Iginla broke a tie early in the second period with his 45th goal of the season and the Calgary Flames held on for a 4-2 victory over the Blackhawks.

With just nine games left on the schedule, Chicago (34-32-7) remains in 12th place in the Western Conference - seven points out of the final playoff spot.

"We didn't get any help (on Saturday) and we didn't help ourselves today," Blackhawks coach Denis Savard said. "All the teams in front of us play each other, but we have nine games left. We just have to win seven or eight of them now."

"We are never going to say never, we know what our goal is," rookie Jonathan Toews added. "We will keep trucking and take it day-by-day."

Owen Nolan and Alex Tanguay each had two assists for the Flames (37-25-10), who climbed into a three-way tie with the idle Minnesota Wild (38-26-8) and Colorado Avalanche (39-28-6) for the top spot in the Northwest Division.

"We are right there now with Minnesota and Colorado, there is still a lot of hockey to play though," said Tanguay, who left the game in the first period with an injured foot after blocking a shot.

With the score deadlocked at 1-1 at the end of the first period, Iginla sparked a three-goal outburst just 73 seconds into the middle session.

The All-Star right wing intercepted Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook's pass at the Flames' blue line to spring a breakaway. Iginla outskated Chicago's defense down the ice and fired a wrist shot between the pads of Patrick Lalime.

"It was a good thing I was playing up high," Iginla said. "I read the play, then it was a race. (Defenseman) Duncan Keith almost caught me before I took the shot."

"He read the play so well and he got a great jump," Keith said of Iginla. "That's why he has 45 goals."

Kristian Huselius then tallied at 4:54 and All-Star blue-liner Dion Phaneuf added another with 6:13 left in the period to give Calgary a 4-1 lead. Defenseman Adrian Aucoin had given the Flames a 1-0 lead just 1:51 into the contest.

"It was a hard fought first (period) in a tough building," Phaneuf said. "We kept going and when (Iginla) scored that second goal for us, we kept rolling."

It was more than enough offense for Miikka Kiprusoff, who turned aside 34 shots, including 16 in the third period.

Toews and Robert Lang both scored their 20th goals of the season for the Blackhawks, who are 1-4-1 over their last six contests.

"There was some little things that broke down and we didn't play consistent hockey," Toews said. "We had four lines going late, but we have to be better early on."

Lalime was relieved at the start of the third period after surrendering four goals on 18 shots. He was replaced by Nikolai Khabibulin, who stopped all five shots he faced.