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Khabibulin, Sharp help Blackhawks end five-game skid

Feb 8, 2008 - 6:30 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Patrick Sharp recorded a goal and an assist and Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 26 shots as the Chicago Blackhawks snapped a five-game losing streak Thursday with a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames.

All-Star defenseman Duncan Keith and Yanic Perreault also scored and Robert Lang added two assists for Chicago, which improved to 1-2-1 on its season-high seven-game road trip.

The Blackhawks, who had been outscored, 13-6, during the skid, clamped down defensively in this one.

Khabibulin, who had been 0-7-2 since December 26, came up with several key saves late in the third to protect the one-goal lead.

"It was big the way we won the game," Sharp said. "They definitely had their chances to score and tie the game up. (Khabibulin) played great. I know there's been a lot of talk about his winless streak. That's a team stat, that's not on him. He's been playing great all year for us."

"I don't care what they say about him, he's a goalie that's won the Stanley Cup," Flames left wing Alex Tanguay said.

Chicago held Calgary to just five shots in the second period and also denied the Flames a single shot while successfully killing a 5-on-3 power-play midway through the final session.

"(Khabibulin's) a good goalie and he's capable of playing like that," Flames coach Mike Keenan said. "He made a couple of great saves in the third period - one on Tanguay and one on (Kristian) Huselius moving from his right to left with his pad. In fairness, he made two game-saving stops, but I didn't think that we pressed him early and often enough."

"Where we are in the standings, we can't give away points," Tanguay said. "This is a team that's lower than us in the standings. We feel with them playing back-to-back games, those were points we shouldn't lose."

With the game tied at 1-1, Sharp scored his 25th goal of the season with 4:53 left in the second. The right wing unleashed a one-timer from the slot that beat goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, extending his goal-scoring streak to three games.

Sharp's tally restored Chicago's lead after former Blackhawks defenseman Adrian Aucoin forged the tie with a slap shot from the point with 8 1/2 minutes to go in the period.

Perreault added an empty-netter with 12 seconds left as Chicago posted its third straight win in Calgary.

"I don't really want to take anything away from them, but I think that we have the skill in this room to score those goals," Aucoin said. "Obviously, there are going to be bounces one way or the other, but I don't think it's luck. When we're not winning, we're not playing our best."

Khabibulin improved to 19-5-2 against the Flames - his most wins against any team. He helped the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Flames in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004.

"I think it's a fun building to play in, and I'll probably always remember 2004," he said. "They had some good chances, and we had to kill a 5-on-3. It's obviously nice to win. It hasn't happened for a while. I thought I played some good games during the losing streak. Tonight, I think we played with desperation. I think it was a very good road game for us. Every line played hard."

"He sure was great," Blackhawks coach Denis Savard said of Khabibulin. "We've got lots of life left. I know we've been through a tough little skid here, but at the end of the day, with the way we played tonight with great goaltending, obviously, if we continue to play that way, we're going to be successful a lot of nights."

Keith opened the scoring at 7:14 of the first, when he beat Kiprusoff between the pads with a slap shot from the left faceoff circle.

Kiprusoff stopped 27 shots for the Flames, who outshot the Blackhawks, 12-6, in the final period.