Hawks, Flames both eager to get a win

CALGARY, Alberta - The Blackhawks know they're going to face an ornery Calgary team Thursday night with the Flames coming off an embarrassing 9-1 loss Monday at San Jose.

But the Hawks weren't too pleased themselves with their lethargic 4-1 loss at Ottawa on Tuesday.

"It's two teams that aren't very happy with the way things turned out last game," Hawks winger Patrick Sharp said. "I can't speak for them, but I'm assuming they're going to come out with a great effort on home ice and it's going to be a tough game."

For the Hawks, there wasn't one aspect of their game against the Senators that was up to par.

"I think both teams probably have issues with their last games," Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We weren't happy with (Tuesday's) game across the board.

"When you look over the course of the games we've had to date, that might have been the worst game we've played all year, so we want a response."

Antti Niemi will start in goal for the Hawks, while the struggling Cristoal Huet gets a few days off to work on his game.

"He's rebounded from some stretches that were just kind of ordinary and got hot and got going again; that's what we're looking for," Quenneville said.

Tough crowd: The Flames have been getting hammered by the media and fans in the aftermath of Monday's 9-1 loss at San Jose that extended their losing streak to five games.

The Calgary Sun ran a headline saying, "Who needs to go?" over pictures of Jarome Iginla, Dion Phaneuf, Miikka Kiprusoff, Robin Regehr and Daymond Langkow.

"I truly believe we will find a way to turn this around and get back to winning," Iginla said. "We'll see it as a low point, close to rock bottom, and it's time to move up again."

The Flames are barely hanging on to a playoff spot in the Western Conference thanks to their glaringly inconsistent play.

The 9-1 drubbing was only their latest bad loss. They also were beaten 7-1 by the Hawks in November, and then there was the October game at the United center when the Flames blew a 5-0 lead and lost 6-5 in overtime.

Let's get physical: The Flames have lost six straight games to the Hawks over the last two seasons, plus four more in the playoffs last spring.

"They're a strong team and we've got to get things going right off the bat," Calgary defenseman Cory Sarich said. "We've got to be physical and we've got to just play our game.

"We've got some history with these guys from last year and now spilling into this year. We want to make good on it."

Tip-ins: Brent Sopel was held out of practice Wednesday, but the banged-up defenseman is expected to play Thursday night. - The Hawks have points from 13 different players in the first three games of the road trip. - Duncan Keith's assist at Ottawa gave him 45 points, establishing a career high with 32 games still to play.