eceived plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri N

(SportsNetwork.com) - Many folks have been waiting for the Calgary Flames to fall off the pace after their impressive start to the season. Calgary hopes to quiet some of those detractors by avoiding a fifth straight loss when it visits the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday. The Flames were expected by some to challenge for the leagues worst record in 2014-15 before jumping out to a 17-8-2 start. Calgary has cooled off considerably in December, however, losing four straight in regulation after only dropping two in a row once before this season from Oct. 25-28. On Sunday, the Flames have an excellent chance to prove their mettle when they take on the Blackhawks, one of the top teams in the West and a conference finalist in last seasons playoffs. Tonights clash is the third and final regular-season meeting between these clubs. Calgary notched a 2-1 overtime win in Chicago on Oct. 15 before the Blackhawks answered with a 4-3 road win on Nov. 20. Chicago has won five of the last eight in this series overall, but the Flames have taken two in a row in the Windy City. Calgary had lost 10 in a row at United Center before claiming the past two road encounters against the Blackhawks in overtime. Calgary hopes to salvage a four-game road trip with a win tonight. The Flames played on back-to-back nights earlier this week in Buffalo and Pittsburgh, losing 4-3 to the Sabres on Thursday before falling 3-1 the next evening against the Penguins. Pittsburgh was able to defeat the Flames despite playing without captain and star centerman Sidney Crosby, who was sitting due to an illness. Blake Comeau and Kris Letang helped pick up for Crosbys absence, posting early scores to put up all the offense the Pens would need. Johnny Gaudreau notched the lone goal for the Flames, while Jonas Hiller made just 19 saves in the setback. We needed to play more in their zone, get more guys in front of the net and go to the dirty areas, Flames forward Paul Byron said. It looks like other teams are scoring those goals right in the paint and were not getting enough of those. Calgary defenseman Ladislav Smid left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Smid was injured when Pittsburgh defenseman Simon Despres delivered a high check that resulted in the Flames blueliner taking an elbow to the head. Smid was placed on injured reserve Saturday while defenseman Corey Potter was recalled from the Adirondack Flames of the American Hockey League. Karri Ramo could get the start in net tonight. He is 1-1-0 with a 3.70 goals against average in his career against Chicago. The Flames are next in action on Tuesday when they host the New York Rangers at the start of a two-game homestand. Calgary is 9-8-0 on the road this season compared to an 8-4-2 mark as the host. Chicago will be eager to get back in the win column tonight after having a season-high eight-game winning streak halted Saturday with a 3-2 loss against the New York Islanders. The Blackhawks grabbed a 2-1 lead with Patrick Kanes goal early in the third period on Long Island. However, Kyle Okposo and Lubomir Visnovsky tallied 51 seconds apart midway through the final stanza to grab the lead for good and cool off Chicago. Sometimes maybe you think youre a little bit better than you really are. This is definitely a wake-up call, Kane admitted. Dan Carcillo also scored for the Blackhawks, while Scott Darling took the loss despite making 38 saves. Antti Raanta could get the call in net for Chicago tonight. He has a 1-0 record and a 3.98 GAA in just two career appearances versus the Flames. Chicago owns a 9-3-1 record on home ice and is playing two straight and four of its next five at the United Center. The Blackhawks have won five in a row as the host and havent lost in the Windy City since falling to Washington on Nov. 7. Byron Buxton Jersey . - The Seattle Sounders busy off-season continues with the team acquiring defender Chad Marshall from the Columbus Crew in exchange for a 2015 third-round pick and allocation money. Tony Oliva Jersey http://www.twinssale.com/twins-rod-carew-jersey/ . The biggest shock of this seasons competition was on when Watford took a 2-0 lead after 30 minutes at Etihad Stadium, only for a remarkable Aguero-led comeback by City in the final half-hour. The Argentina striker produced clinical finishes in the 60th and 79th minutes to level the score before Aleksandar Kolarov put City in front in the 87th. Justin Morneau Jersey . In their first meeting for six years, the Frenchmen dropped serve twice in the first set, but Giquel broke Simon two more times in the second. Gicquel moves on to face sixth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who advanced with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5) win against wild card Pierre-Hugues Herbert, despite the Frenchmans 23 aces. Bert Blyleven Jersey . The rookie is rewarding their faith with a stellar first season. MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Jamie McGinn had two goals and an assist, and Colorado beat the Buffalo Sabres 7-1 on Saturday.DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars three Olympians sent their team into the Olympic break on a high note Saturday night. Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. Canadas Jamie Benn assisted on Whitneys goal. The victory moved Dallas into the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference for the first time this season. "Weve come from a long way," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Youve got to give the guys credit for digging in. "I thought if we got within three or four points at the break, we could be a serious contender. Weve exceeded that." The Stars and Coyotes have identical 27-21-10 records for 64 points, but Dallas holds a tiebreaker over Phoenix, which fell to ninth. Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said his teams position at the break is "probably about where we should be. I think were better than that, but thats where we are." "Im not worrying about that too much yet," Lehtonen said of Dallas position in the standings. "Its good that were moving to the right direction. We just have to keep going." He was more impressed by defeating Phoenix twice in five days to make up four points on the Coyotes. "They were huge games both times. I really like it when we play well as a team." Dallas limited Phoenix to 27 shots, 13 in the third period. Lehtonen shut them out until Radim Vrbata scored on a power play with 15 seconds remaining. The Coyotes had six skaters to the Stars four because Tippett had pulled goalie Mike Smith, who had 31 saves. "Again (Lehtonen) was rock solid," said Ruff, an assistant coach for Canadas Olympic team. "He came up with some big saves. One when we were killing a penalty he went down low and made a glove save. He made a big stop on their breakaway when they were short-handed. "The only thing I would like to have seen was for him to get the shutout." "We couldnt generate too much offensively," Vrbata said. "But I think (Smiths) playing the way we know he can play.dddddddddddd Hopefully, hes going to stay like that and we can do a little better for him." Whitney scored just 2:10 into the game. Nichushkin scored at 19:26 of the second period, deflecting in a shot by Trevor Daley. Dallas took the early lead when Whitney carried the puck into the Phoenix zone along the left side, skated into the slot and sent a wrist shot past Smith into the upper right corner of the net. "It was kind of not much happening in the first period until we decided we didnt want to back check on a play and give them the first goal," Tippett said. "That was something we talked about as a group, if we get behind its going to be much tougher on us." The Stars ended the first period a man up and put three shots on Smith for a 7-4 edge in shots. One of Dallas shots was short-handed, as the Stars made it difficult for the Coyotes to get out of their end. Midway through the second period, Dallas had two good scoring chances, but Smith gloved a high drive by Sergei Gonchar and stopped a tip-in attempt by Benn in front of the goal. Nichushkin deflected Daleys slap shot from the blue line for the rookies 13th goal with 34 seconds left in the second period for a 1-0 lead. The goal was reviewed to see whether Nichushkins deflection was on a high stick. NOTES: Whitney has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his last seven games against Phoenix. ... Coyotes D Derek Morris (upper-body injury) was inactive. He was hurt during Phoenixs victory over Chicago Friday. C Martin Hanzal, who missed that game because of illness, returned against Dallas. ... The Stars have not allowed more than 28 shots in any of their last 11 games. ... Vrbata has scored three goals in the last four games. ... Saturdays game was delayed briefly in the second period when linesman Ryan Galloway was upended in a collision with Whitney along the boards. Galloway stayed in the game. ... The public address announcer saluted the five Coyotes and three Stars who will be competing in the Olympics. Smith, a former Stars goalie, received almost as strong an ovation as the Dallas players. 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