The Calgary Flames must hate the Blackhawks more then they did going into tonight’s match-up. The ‘Hawks swept the season series last year, knocked them out of last year’s playoffs in the first round, and came back from five down in a historic victory earlier this season. Tonight, in the first of the six-game circus road trip the ‘Hawks won big over the Flame, 7-1.

First Period – Cristobal Huet started they game off well by making some great saves in the first period, and there were some great instances of back-checking by the Blackhawks that successfully disrupted the Flames in the defensive zone. Niklas Hjalmarsson spoiled a good scoring chance for Rene Bourque as he knocked the puck to Huet while was falling to the ice.

Troy Brouwer keeps winning my heart with his play in front of the net, and his goal off on his third consecutive rebound is just one example of how he is becoming the best on the roster in that spot. In the last five games, Brouwer has three goals and three assists.

Second Period – Olli Jokinen came out of the first intermission scoring up high on Huet with a man-advantage, but Hjalmarsson answered with a huge hit on Bourque seconds later. The Blackhawks were able to rattle off five unanswered goals to break the short-lived tie. Two of the period’s goals were from Kris Versteeg, one from Andrew Ladd, Dustin Byfuglien and Patrick Kane each. Huet was solid for the rest of the period after the early goal.

Third Period– It would have been easy for the Blackhawks to coast for the rest of the game with a five-goal lead, but they kept the pressure on the Flames. Huet made some more key saves, one in particular from Jokinen on his glove side. To top it off, Tomas Kopecky set up Ben Eager for his first goal of the season.