Huberdeau: Loss to injury-riddled Blackhawks 'tough one to swallow'
Jonathan Huberdeau and the Calgary Flames weren't thrilled with their loss to a Chicago Blackhawks squad that's decimated by injuries.
“It's a tough one to swallow," Huberdeau told The FAN 960's Pat Steinberg after the Flames' 4-3 loss on Sunday. "It's a game that we've got to win."
Calgary captain Mikael Backlund echoed those sentiments.
"If we want to be a playoff team, that's a game we've got to win, find a way to win," he said. "It wasn't good enough."
"I felt like we were just not dialed in enough and (there are) just no excuses for that," he added.
Flames head coach Ryan Huska had a more succinct view.
"They were hungrier and harder than we were," he said.
Colin Blackwell scored twice for the Blackhawks, including the goal that made it 4-2 and would be the eventual game-winner. Nazem Kadri replied with his second tally of the contest, but that's as close as Calgary would get.
Chicago was playing its first game without Connor Bedard, the first overall pick in this year's draft who leads all rookies in scoring. The 18-year-old is also pacing his club in terms of offense, leading all three primary categories - including points by 10.
But the Blackhawks were severely undermanned even before Bedard landed on injured reserve with a broken jaw. Chicago is missing eight of its top 12 forwards including Taylor Hall, plus top defenseman Seth Jones. They played Sunday's game with only 11 forwards, and currently have more salary on injured reserve than on the active roster.
The Flames were playing their third road game in four nights. They went 2-2-0 on the trip, losing back-to-back against the Philadelphia Flyers and the Blackhawks on the weekend after beating the Nashville Predators on Thursday and topping the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
Calgary fell to 17-18-5 on the season with Sunday's defeat. They're only two points out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference, but they've played four more games than the Edmonton Oilers, two more than the St. Louis Blues, and one more than the Seattle Kraken.