Patrick Sharp had one goal and one assist as the Chicago Blackhawks posted a 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday.

Calgary entered the contest with a 14-9-7 record at the Pengrowth Saddledome, but mustered little offensively in front of the partisan home crowd of 16,839.

Mark Smith decks Adam Burish in Thursday's 3-1 Flames setback.
(Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

"Look at the standings," Flames head coach Mike Keenan fumed. "Enough said.

"I'm not being flippant or smart. It is pretty self-explanatory.

"We're in eighth place — one point in the playoffs — and we have played below .500 since we got back from the break. I do not know what more motivation you need."

Duncan Keith opened the scoring and Yanic Perreault tallied an empty-net goal as the Blackhawks (24-25-5) put the brakes on a five-game losing streak.

"I'm proud of our guys," Blackhawks head coach Denis Savard said. "We have lots of life left.

"I know we have been through a tough little skid here. But at the end of the day, the way we played tonight — we keep playing like that and we're going to be successful a lot of nights."

"If you can string a few wins together, you're right back in the middle of things," Sharp said.  "We feel we have a team that can win and, hopefully, this can be the kickstart to a winning streak."

Adrian Aucoin replied for the Flames (27-20-8), who suffered their third loss in four games.

"Tonight, it seemed like we were fighting the puck," Flames forward Alex Tanguay said. "We were giving the puck away, we were putting the pucks in bad areas and that is just mental sharpness.

"Everybody is responsible to be accountable before the game and be ready. Tonight, we were ready for some shifts, and not for ready for others, [and] it ended up costing us."

Khabibulin ends winless skid

Nikolai Khabibulin proved one save better than Miikka Kiprusoff as both netminders faced 27 shots.
 
Khabibulin was winless in his previous 10 starts, going 0-8-2 since Boxing Day, but he has fared well versus the Flames, with 19 wins in 26 starts.

"It is obviously nice to win, it hasn't happened in a while," Khabibulin said. "I thought I played some good games during the losing streak [and] probably could have won the game before this one, but it didn't happen."

Keith broke a scoreless deadlock with his seventh goal of the season, beating Kiprusoff between the pads with a slapshot 7:14 into the second period.

Aucoin tied it 1-1 with his seventh on a similar slapshot at the 11:30 mark, but Sharp restored Chicago's bulge with his 25th with 4:53 left in the period.

Calgary outshot Chicago 12-6 in the third period, but Khabibulin preserved the victory by sweeping the puck off the goal-line during a frenzied scramble with four minutes remaining.

"He was great," Sharp said. "That is why he is our starter and our go-to guy.

"They have great shooters and great players on their side, and they could have easily tied the game late in the third period. Without Nik, it is a different story."

With files from the Canadian Press