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Flames down Blackhawks to even series

Apr 23, 2009 - 6:29 AM CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- Calgary Flames coach Mike Keenan had said Olli Jokinen must develop an understanding of what playoff hockey means.

The light bulb went on Wednesday night.

Jokinen scored two goals and had an assist in Calgary's 6-4 victory over the Blackhawks that sent the Western Conference series back to Chicago even at two wins apiece.

Jokinen ended a 16-game goal drought -- his longest since 2002 -- with his first career playoff goals. They also were his first goals at the Pengrowth Saddledome since the Flames acquired him from Phoenix at the March 3 trade deadline.

"It's nice to score, but it's much nicer to win games," said the 30-year-old Jokinen, playing in the postseason for the first time in his career. "It felt a lot better when we scored that fifth goal than when I scored my own goals."

Eric Nystrom broke a tie with that fifth goal, scoring off a rebound with 6:56 left in the third period. Flames captain Jarome Iginla also had a pair for Calgary, including an empty-netter, to go along with an assist.

Calgary pulled away in the third after blowing a 4-1 lead in the second.

"Holy cow, protecting leads," Nystrom said. "It's amazing how it's easier to play coming from behind. Sometimes when you have a lead you sit on it a little bit, but tonight we persevered and battled hard to win this game. Now the series is 0-0 again."

Defenseman Adrian Aucoin also scored for the Flames, 4-2 winners Monday night at home after dropping the first two games in Chicago.

Game 5 is Saturday night in Chicago.

Patrick Kane, Kris Versteeg, Cam Barker and Samuel Pahlsson scored for Chicago.

"It's going to be a long flight home tomorrow," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "It's far from over. It's frustrating and yes, we were up two games and you can cry about that all day about having those first two games and then letting them have the last two and letting them get back in the series.

"But we knew they weren't going anywhere so we're just going to have to battle and get momentum swinging back in our favor a little bit."

Miikka Kiprusoff made 28 saves for his second straight victory, while Nikolai Khabibulin turned away 22 shots for Chicago.

Flames winger Rene Bourque, listed as day-to-day after Chicago's Adam Burish broke his stick over his shoulder at the end of Game 3, participated in the pregame skate, but was scratched from the lineup.

The Flames missed Bourque's penalty-killing prowess as Chicago scored a pair of power-play goals in the second period while charging back from the three-goal deficit.

Curtis Glencross replaced Bourque on a line with center Craig Conroy and Iginla to start the game. Conroy did not play after the first period due to injury, which gave Jokinen more minutes on Calgary's top forward unit.