Rookie goaltender Jaxson Stauber helps Blackhawks win over Flames

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press

CALGARY — Rookie goaltender Jaxson Stauber blocked 34 shots, his second win in as many National Hockey League starts, as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Calgary Flames 5-1 on Thursday night.

Taylor Raddysh, Boris Katchouk, Jason Dickinson, Sam Lafferty and Connor Murphy, the latter in an empty net, scored the goals for the Blackhawks (15-28-4), who entered the game in last place in the general classification of the NHL.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored the lone goal for the Flames (23-17-9), who sit outside the top-8 in the Western Conference after finishing first in the Pacific Division last season.

Jacob Markstrom has made 24 saves in goal for the Flames and hasn’t won in his last four decisions (0-3-1). It was the 10th game this season where his teammates had scored a goal or less in one of his outings.

Because goaltender Alex Stalock suffered a concussion, Stauber made his NHL debut on Saturday. He picked up a 5-3 victory in St. Louis against the Blues.

The 23-year-old Stauber was undrafted and is in his first season as a pro. Last March, he signed a contract as a free agent after spending the previous two seasons with Providence College, at the university level.

He started the campaign at Rockford, the Blackhawks’ American League school club.

With the score at 1-1 after 20 minutes, the Blackhawks took control of the game with three unanswered goals in the second period.