RUUTU RETURN DOESN'T MATTER

CALGARY-- Matthew Lombardi scored with 7:04 left in the third period Monday to give the Calgary Flames their third straight victory, 3-2 over Chicago.

The Blackhawks lost their seventh straight game despite having their lineup bolstered by the return of forward Tuomo Ruutu, sidelined since Nov. 1 with an injured back, and the debut of forward Radim Vrbata, who was acquired Friday in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Lombardi's second goal of the season and second in as many games came when Darren McCarty outmuscled Blackhawks defenseman Jassen Cullimore behind the net. With one hand on his stick, McCarty centered a pass to Lombardi alone in front and he deked goaltender Craig Anderson and slid the puck into an open net.

Jarome Iginla and Kristian Huselius also scored for Calgary, which leads the Northwest Division and moved within three points of the Detroit Red Wings for first place in the Western Conference.

Jim Vandermeer and Kyle Calder scored for Chicago.

Chicago held a 37-21 edge in shots but ran into a hot goaltender in Miikka Kiprusoff, who made 35 saves to win his fifth straight game and improve to 21-10-4.

Anderson dropped to 2-4-1 in his second straight start with Nikolai Khabibulin sidelined with a groin injury.

Huselius gave Calgary its first lead 3:27 into the second period when his shot from behind the net bounced in off Anderson's back. The lead lasted just 40 seconds as Calder put in a rebound of a shot by Vandermeer.

Chicago opened the scoring at 7:09 of the first period when Vandermeer's high shot from the blue line got past a screened Kiprusoff. Calgary tied it 1-1 on Iginla's goal at 17:48.

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