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Ladd, Bolland lead Blackhawks to third straight win

Feb 6, 2009 - 7:02 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- The Calgary Flames did a fantastic job keeping All-Stars Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in check. It was the less-heralded members of the Chicago Blackhawks who did all the damage.

Andrew Ladd recorded a goal and two assists and Dave Bolland netted a tally and set up another as the Blackhawks rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Flames on Thursday.

Adam Burish, Colin Fraser and Troy Brouwer also scored and defenseman Matt Walker collected three assists for the Blackhawks, who improved to 4-1-0 on their eight-game road trip and 11-0-0 against Canadian teams this season.

"After the All-Star break, we really stressed that we wanted a good start to this road trip," Ladd said. "We've really gotten that, but we still have many games left. We've got to keep this going and keep playing well."

"I think we don't want to settle for .500 on this trip," Toews added. "I think we can do much better than that. We just play game by game. ... We set little goals for ourselves."

Nikolai Khabibulin made 29 saves for Chicago, which extended its winning streak against Calgary to six games. The Russian goaltender raised his lifetime record vs. the Flames to 22-5-2, his highest total of wins against any NHL club.

Todd Bertuzzi and defenseman Dion Phaneuf tallied for Calgary, which has lost three in a row in regulation for the first time this season.

"We know that we can be better, and we don't want any excuses," said Flames captain Jarome Iginla, who posted a dismal minus-4 rating. "We got outcompeted along the walls and on the power play. We're a team that outcompetes teams a lot. We skate and we put them back on their heels, and right now, we've got to get back to doing that, and it starts with me, for sure."

Super sophomores Kane and Toews were kept off the scoresheet for the Blackhawks, who outscored the Flames by a 19-7 margin in sweeping the four-game season series. But Chicago's supporting cast was more than ready to step up and lead the team to its fifth win in six road games.

"I think everybody knows what their role is and what's expected of them every night," Ladd said. "We've had different guys stepping up every night. It always seems like we have different guys stepping up, and top teams in the league, that's what they're doing."

"We feel that we're getting momentum from the four lines again, and I think that really sustains the team," Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. "You get a lot of energy from that."

Bolland wasted little time extending his points streak to five games, as Martin Havlat's pass caromed off the center and into the net 42 seconds into the contest for a 1-0 lead.

"They wanted to come out hard. They wanted to take it to us, they wanted to beat us," Bolland said. "We've beaten them four times (this season) now, and I think it just fell into place for us."

"It was a good test today, and we knew they were ready," Quenneville said. "We responded with the first goal in the first shift. We played them well. It was a good series for us against them."

Bertuzzi forged a 1-1 tie at 6:28, when he received a pass Chicago's blue line, skated in on a breakaway and backhanded the puck past Khabibulin for his 13th goal of the season. But just 17 seconds later, Bolland made a backhand pass from behind the net to Ladd, who beat goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff from the bottom of the left faceoff circle for a 2-1 edge.

"Our line plays well together," Ladd said. "I think it's a good mix of grit and skill. We're really comfortable with each other, and we want to be a good line every night."

Phaneuf drew the Flames even with 5:55 remaining in the first period, pouncing on a turnover behind the net and skating into the right circle before firing the puck past Khabibulin. That was all the offense Calgary managed to produce, however, as Khabibulin stopped all 22 shots he faced over the final 40 minutes.

Burish put the Blackhawks ahead for good with 8:32 left in the middle session, when he tipped Walker's wrist shot from along the right wing boards by Kiprusoff.

Fraser made it 4-2 at 3:18 of the third. After Walker's shot bounced off the end boards, Fraser took a whack at the puck from the right side of the crease, bouncing it off Kiprusoff's hip and into the net for his fourth tally of the campaign.

Brouwer sealed the triumph with a shorthanded empty-netter with 2:08 to go.

"For whatever reason, they've played very well against us and we haven't played very well against them," Iginla said. "We really wanted it to be a different story tonight."

"We don't play well against them at all, from top to bottom," added Calgary defenseman Adrian Aucoin, a former Blackhawk. "We didn't play smart. We were spread out everywhere. We made it very easy on them."

Kiprusoff turned aside 28 shots.

Both teams went 0-for-5 on the power play, but Flames coach Mike Keenan pointed to a particular man advantage midway through the second period as a turning point for his club.

"We had enough of an effort to come back on two occasions, and then we had a real opportunity with the high-sticking call," Keenan said, referring to a double-minor on Kane with 8:12 remaining in the middle session. "That ensuing power play was a window for us to really get the emotion involved in the game, to get back in the game. We didn't score a power-play goal.

"I guess you could give credit to both teams in terms of the penalty-killing. ... That made a big difference as well."