CALGARY—Blackhawks goalie Ray Emery turned in a performance that left everyone talking and had the Calgary Flames shaking their heads in disbelief.Emery made a career-high 45 saves, and the Blackhawks – on a shootout goal by Patrick Kane – beat the Flames 3-2 on Saturday night.
“That was criminal,” Joel Quenneville said. “They’ve got to call the cops after that performance. [Emery] stole two points. He was spectacular.
And that was just the capper. Both teams scored in the final minute of regulation to push the game into overtime.The teams were scoreless through two periods before Calgary outshot Chicago 24-6 in the third. The Flames appeared set to hand the Blackhawks their first regulation loss when Jay Bouwmeester scored with 35 seconds remaining to put Calgary ahead 2-1.However, the Hawks pulled Emery for an extra skater and, in a furious scramble around the net in the final seconds, Marian Hossa pounced on the puck and fired it over fallen goalie Miikka Kiprusoff with just 2.3 seconds remaining.In the shootout, Kane scored on a backhanded deke – after misses by Calgary’s Alex Tanguay and Jiri Hudler – to put the game in Emery’s hands. He then denied Roman Cervenka to win it for the Blackhawks in thrilling fashion.
“We did a good job of managing the flurries that they came at us in, and we got goals at the end when we needed them,” Emery said. “We didn’t quit even though they got one with 30 seconds left. We battled right to the end, got one with two seconds left and got one in the shootout.
The Blackhawks (7-0-2) have gone to a shootout in each of their first three games of a season-high, six-game road trip, but this was the first one they won. Dennis Wideman also scored for Calgary (1-3-2). The Flames will begin a three-game road trip on Tuesday in Detroit.Despite starting the season with five of their first six games at home, the Flames are last in the Western Conference standings.Desperate for a victory, Calgary turned in its best period of the season in the third. Glencross was right in the middle of the Flames’ offense, with five shots in the frame as well as several other great chances that didn’t result in shots.The Blackhawks opened the scoring at 4:08 when Kane fired in a rebound after Patrick Sharp hit the post. Calgary tied it at 13:23 on Wideman’s power-play goal.The Hawks entered Saturday as one of three teams without a regulation loss. New Jersey was beaten by Pittsburgh in regulation on Saturday, and San Jose lost in a shootout.Kiprusoff made his sixth straight start after the 36-year-old Finn gave up an uncharacteristic 19 goals in his first five. That left him with a gaudy 3.76 goals-against average and .854 save percentage.
NOTES—Tanguay earned his 500th career assist….Going back to last season, Calgary’s Jarome Iginla has gone nine games without a goal. He has only one in 17 games…..Dave Bolland (lower body) didn’t play after getting hurt Friday in Vancouver…..Calgary D Cory Sarich was a healthy scratch for the first time….. The game’s only fight featured Tim Jackman and Brandon Bollig in the first period. The Flames entered the night as the only NHL team without a fight.