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Blackhawks flame out in Calgary

CALGARY, Alberta -- Let's hold off on the talk of a Blackhawks turnaround.

What happened Friday night showed the Hawks still have such a long way to go as they failed to take advantage of the struggling Calgary Flames in an embarrassing 7-2 loss at the Saddledome.

Who knows what kind of road trip this will now become for the Hawks, who are 1-1 after the so-called “easy” portion of their six-games trek through the west with games at Vancouver, San Jose, Anaheim and Los Angeles still to come.

The roof caved in Friday after the Hawks took an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Jack Skille. The Hawks were sloppy defensively, took bad penalties and were pushed all over the rink by the Flames, who had lost seven of eight.

The official stats showed the Hawks outhit by the Flames 22-3. The Hawks had no hits in the third period.

“I don't think we competed very well tonight,” defenseman Brian Campbell said. “I don't think we showed any initiative. We didn't get to the pucks first or win battles. Hits are hits, but it's going to win a battle 1-on-1 is probably where that stat would have told the story of the game right there.”

Jarome Iginla broke out of his season-long slump with a hat trick, doubling his season output.

“We kind of just let them push us around a little bit and we can't have that,” defenseman Nick Boynton said. “We didn't help Marty (Turco) out and didn't rise to the occasion.”

Turco allowed 7 goals on 30 shots and wasn't happy afterward.

“That was just a bad night overall, start to finish for myself it's just a letdown, it (stinks),” Turco said. “Guys expect you to do the job and give them confidence and tonight was the farthest thing from that.”

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville wasn't blaming Turco for the debacle.

“This wasn't about Marty today, at all,” Quenneville said.

“The way they scored their goals was on the gracious side, how we turned the puck over, how we didn't kill penalties and how we went about it. Calgary played well, but we weren't up to par. It's not good at all.

“It was one of those games where there was nothing to be happy about, nothing to get excited about, so let's get mad and do something about it.”

The first period started OK for the Hawks, but a Troy Brouwer giveaway changed the momentum of the game.

Skille's third goal of the season at 6:12 opened the scoring, but Brouwer's giveaway along the boards resulted in Niklas Hagman's tying goal at 8:52. Quenneville sat Brouwer for much of the rest of the period.

“We're in a good spot and give up a goal like that,” Quenneville said.

The Hawks took three penalties in the first period, and the middle one cost them the lead.

Dave Bolland was off for slashing when David Moss dug out a rebound from Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jassen Cullimore at 12:28 for a 2-1 lead.

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<P><B>Tim Sassone's game tracker</B> </P>

<P>Flames 7, Blackhawks 2</P>

<P><B>Three stars</B></P>

<P>1. Jarome Iginla, Flames: Hat trick for Calgary's struggling star.</P>

<P>2. Niklas Hagman, Flames: A goal and assist and was always near the net.</P>

<P>3. Alex Tanguay, Flames: Three assists.</P>

<P><B>No-hitter</B></P>

<P>This was no misprint on the final stat sheet. The Hawks were credited with just 3 hits for the night by Patrick Sharp, Jack Skille and Troy Brouwer, if you're keeping score at home.</P>