The Chicago Blackhawks fell 3-1 to the Calgary Flames in a game on Thursday night that was effectively decided early, with all but one of the scoring coming before the midway point of the first period.
The Blackhawks struck first, opening the scoring just 2:44 into the game. Colton Dach worked the puck to Nick Foligno, who snapped a wrist shot past Devin Cooley to give Chicago an early 1-0 lead.
right on target for goal no. 249🎯 pic.twitter.com/yJYwFgxSmI
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 16, 2026
That advantage didn’t last long: just 36 seconds later, the Flames tied it up 1-1 on the power play when Yegor Sharangovich buried a rebound off a Connor Zary backhand from in tight, with Mikael Backlund getting a piece of the puck during a net-front scramble to keep the play alive.
Beware of Sharky 🦈 pic.twitter.com/SYfYYQXCtP
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 16, 2026
The Flames then grabbed the lead at 6:05 of the first period on a short-handed goal from Backlund. He picked off Andre Burakovsky near the blue line, broke in alone, and finished on the forehand to make it 2-1.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww 🥵 pic.twitter.com/EbTSAj6rts
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 16, 2026
The second period came and went without a goal, and the third followed suit until Matt Coronato sealed it with an empty-netter with about a minute left, sending the Flames to a 3-1 win.
Cool with it. pic.twitter.com/hrlFX52EAo
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) January 16, 2026
Notes
Usually, low-scoring games like this one tend to work in the Blackhawks’ favor, but this time, it just didn’t work out that way and was just overall a bit of a snoozer — like, I legit fell asleep in the third.
The first period was fairly even in terms of performance, but Chicago was the slightly better team by the eye test and the numbers. At 5-on-5 in the opening 20 minutes, the Blackhawks controlled 52.38 percent of the shot attempts, 75 percent of the shots on goal, and a staggering 86.26 percent of the expected goals. They were sharp in transition, structured defensively, and disruptive in all the right spots. The goals against largely stemmed from individual miscues rather than any systemic breakdowns so, despite trailing 2–1, it felt reasonable to expect that level of play to carry over and potentially fuel a comeback.
Unfortunately, that comeback never materialized. Outside of a few brief flurries, the Blackhawks rarely played with much urgency over the final 40 minutes. While the Flames didn’t score at 5-on-5, they were still the more effective team in the latter two periods in just about every game state. Chicago’s share of shot attempts dipped from 44.83 percent in the second period to 42.86 percent in the third, while their expected goals share cratered from 43.22 percent to 26.81 percent. The second period featured a heavy dose of special teams, which skews those numbers a bit, but there’s no real excuse for the third. For a team down just one goal, finishing the night without a single high-danger chance at 5-on-5 in the final frame isn’t great, even if you have to give the Flames credit for their defensive play.
All told, this wasn’t a terrible performance from the Blackhawks — it just wasn’t a particularly good or inspired one after the first period, either. Given that the team is still working its way back from a nasty flu bug, the flat finish is at least somewhat understandable. This is the kind of game that’s probably not worth overanalyzing until we’re watching a fully healthy lineup again.
It’s also worth noting that, while the special teams were mostly so-so overall, the penalty kill still deserves some applause. Tonight marked the first power-play goal the Blackhawks have allowed since the calendar flipped, after killing off all 16 advantages they faced across the previous seven January games. The power play has also been fine recently, but tonight wasn’t their night: outside of a post-shot by Tyler Bertuzzi, there wasn’t much going for the Blackhawks when they had the man-advantage.
Bertuzzi rings a backhander off the post pic.twitter.com/nNmXnsq1zi
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 16, 2026
Below is one of those individual mistakes — or, more accurately, a pair of them — that ended up in the back of the net. Blashill was right in noting that Connor Bedard tried to force an ill-advised pass, and Andre Burakovsky compounded the issue by failing to handle it cleanly, then taking roughly three business days to turn and even begin the recovery chase. Just a couple of bad decisions ended up in the net.
Blashill implied the Flames’ shorthanded goal was actually Connor Bedard’s fault: “We knew better than to make that late pass, to be honest with you. That was in the pre-scout. They do step on that forward side, and we kind of played into their hands.”pic.twitter.com/l9KcmKtoZZ
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) January 16, 2026
I’m going to keep this one fairly simple and focus on three players I really enjoyed watching tonight.
First up is Ryan Greene, who continues to make it very easy to root for him. He’s a smart, high-effort player who doesn’t rack up gaudy shot totals — like, he had only two attempts tonight, neither of which hit the net, though both were legitimate scoring chances — and his finishing skills are lacking. Still, he consistently handles the workhorse responsibilities on his line, adapts well to more skilled linemates, and contributes in subtle but meaningful ways on special teams. He’s almost certainly not a long-term first-line option, but he’s done an admirable job in that role so far. His line with Bedard and Burakvosky did get buried by the Flames statistically, but individually it was a nice game from Greene.
Greene with a between-the-legs shot on a shorthanded rush pic.twitter.com/BCdS724GBl
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 16, 2026
And Bedard seems to agree:
Connor Bedard pregame on playing with Ryan Greene:
“I don’t think people understand how good of a hockey player Ryan is… he’s gonna be a special player for us.” pic.twitter.com/oHvhTxdgxm
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 16, 2026
Next up, Louis Crevier quietly put together one of his better games in what was his 100th NHL appearance. In 17:16 of ice time, he led the team in shots on goal (four), tied for second in shot attempts (six), and finished second overall in expected goals (0.41). Not exactly the stat line you expect from a typically defense-first player like Crevier. Defensively, he was just as solid: Crevier played a low-mistake, simple-but-effective game, keeping things clean in his own end and making the right reads with the puck. He finished with three blocks and two hits (both either leading or second best on the team). There aren’t really any highlight-reel moments to point to, but that’s kind of the point: he was steady all night and was arguably the best defender on the ice for either team. Crevier and Alex Vlasic were easily the most effective pairing, too, owning 62.50 percent of the shot attempts and 82.45 percent of the expected goals when on the ice together.
Bedard did have the mistake highlighted above, but he was still the Blackhawks’ best offensive forward on the night, which was encouraging to see given that he’s one of the players who recently missed time while recovering from the flu. He finished with a team-high seven shot attempts, three shots on goal (tied for second), and four scoring chances (tied for first). Beyond the shot numbers, Bedard’s playmaking really stood out: he was consistently creating looks and pushing the offense forward, but there just wasn’t much finish to be found. That went for Bedard himself and his linemates alike, leaving a strong individual effort without much to show for it on the scoreboard.
Bedard with a takeaway in the D-zone then a spinning pass in the O-zone pic.twitter.com/sXaYblcW4s
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 16, 2026
Bedard finds Grzelcyk for an open shot pic.twitter.com/8e7Y98XaTw
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) January 16, 2026
These weren’t the only Blackhawks to have good moments in what was otherwise a pretty sleepy game. Connor Murphy’s big hit and the ensuing fight injected some life, the Slaggert-Foligno-Dach line looked good in their offensively skewed deployment, Wyatt Kaiser and Artyom Levshunov continue to show some genuinely nice chemistry, and Oliver Moore remains an absolute speed demon, just to name a few. Still, the three players above stood out the most for me and were some of the few consistent bright spots in this one.
Game Charts
Three Stars
Mikael Backlund (CGY) — 1 goal, 1 assist
Yegor Sharangovich (CGY) — 1 goal, 1 assist
Nick Foligno (CHI) — 1 goal
What’s Next
The Blackhawks are back at the United Center on Saturday to take on the Boston Bruins at 7 p.m.