Blackhawks match up well with Calgary Flames

There's a lot to like about the Blackhawks drawing the Calgary Flames as their first-round Stanley Cup playoff opponent.

For starters, the Hawks swept the four-game regular-season series from the Flames, outscoring them 19-7.

And then there's goalie Nikolai Khabibulin's career record of 22-5-2 against Calgary that does not include his 4 victories against the Flames in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals.

A Khabibulin matchup with Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff would appear to be much more favorable that than it would have been if the Hawks had drawn Vancouver and Roberto Luongo in the opening round.

"It's still team against team," Khabibulin said.

The Hawks are going to the playoffs on a high, 8-2-1 in their last 11 games following Saturday's 4-2 win at Detroit.

Dustin Byfuglien snapped a 2-2 tie by scoring on a penalty shot with 28 seconds left after he was whacked on a partial breakaway by Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Kronwall.

"I knew I got hit, but I couldn't tell how hard," Byfuglien told reporters. "We got the break."

The Hawks close the regular season today at the United Center against Detroit.

"This is how we wanted to go into the playoffs, on a high note," Duncan Keith said.

Calgary has stumbled to the finish line. The Flames had lost three of four and six of their last 11 prior to meeting Edmonton late Saturday night.

The Flames lost 5-1 at Edmonton on Friday in a game they needed to have to keep alive their chances of winning the Northwest Division.

Those hopes vanished when Calgary beat Colorado 1-0 to claim the Northwerst Division title.

The Flames aren't exactly healthy either, especially on defense, where Dion Phaneuf, Cory Sarich and Robin Regehr have each missed games in the last week.

The Flames have a definite Hawks connection with Mike Keenan as coach and Darryl Sutter the general manager.

Keenan coached the Hawks to the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals with Sutter as his assistant. Sutter, a former Hawks captain, took over from Keenan as coach in 1992 and stayed three seasons.

When the Hawks and Flames meet for Game 1, likely Thursday at the United Center, it will be their first meeting since Feb. 5. Here's a look back at the four-game season series.

• The Hawks dumped the Flames 6-1 on Nov. 9 at the UC behind Cristobal Huet. Six different players scored for the Hawks, who were 2-for-7 on the power play.

• Keith scored in overtime at Calgary on Dec. 19 to make a winner out of Khabibulin, 3-2.

• Another rout in Chicago, this time by a 5-2 count on Jan. 4 with five different Hawks again scoring goals and Khabibulin winning.

• On a night for the grinders, the Hawks won 5-2 on Feb. 5 at the Saddledome behind Khabibulin, with Dave Bolland, Andrew Ladd, Adam Burish, Colin Fraser and Troy Brouwer scoring goals.

The Hawks and Flames have met three times in the playoffs, with Calgary taking two series. The last time they played was in the 1996 conference quarterfinals, with the Hawks sweeping the four-game series.

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