CALGARY, Alberta — Matt Coronato scored two goals, Dustin Wolf made 31 saves and the Calgary Flames stayed undefeated with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night.
Andrei Kuzmenko, with his first of the season on the power play, also scored for Calgary, which improved to 4-0 to match the best start in franchise history. The Flames also opened with four consecutive wins in the 2009-10 and 1993-94 seasons.
Nick Foligno scored for Chicago, which wrapped up a season-opening four-game road trip at 1-2-1.
Petr Mrazek stopped 23 shots for Chicago.
Coronato’s second goal was an empty netter with 39 seconds to play.
Blackhawks: The visitors had several chances to break a 1-1 tie as they outshot the hosts 7-1 to begin the second period, but they couldn’t solve Wolf. He made a string of early stops including one on Joey Anderson who was thwarted on a short-handed breakaway and a pad stop of Teuvo Teravainen’s one-timer.
Flames: The fourth line continues to be a surprise source of offense. After Justin Kirkland, filling in for Kevin Rooney (upper body), scored his first NHL goal on Saturday, the 28-year-old picked up his first NHL assist on Coronato’s first goal. Ryan Lomberg is manning the left side.
With Connor Bedard in the penalty box for slashing after catching Wolf under his mask with the tip of his stick at 11:56 of the second, the Flames took the lead for good with Kuzmenko neatly deflecting Jonathan Huberdeau’s point shot out of the air. The goal came at 6-on-4 with a delayed penalty upcoming on Foligno.
With an assist on Kuzmenko’s goal, Connor Zary is up to five points (2 goals, 3 assists) and is the only Calgary player with a point in all four games. With an assist, Rasmus Andersson has six points (2 goals, 4 assist) to lead all NHL defensemen.
Blackhawks: Host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night.
Flames: Visit the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
