clarinews@clarinet.com (ROBERT J. MURPHY, UPI Sports Writer) (01/15/90)
CHICAGO (UPI) -- Veteran winger Brian MacLellan, switched in and out of the Calgary lineup, needed only five minutes and 21 seconds Sunday night to match his total goal output for the season. MacLellan scored three times in the first 5:21 of the game, then added a fourth goal in the third period, while Sergei Makarov tallied twice to lead the Flames to a 6-5 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks. ``It kind of happened before you could realize what happened,'' said MacLellan, acquired from Minnesota last March. ``I got one, and the puck kept coming to me.'' With fans still finding their seats, MacLellan connected first at 1:54, then added another 19 seconds later off a behind-the-net feed from Doug Gilmour. He racked up the hat trick, the fourth of his career, at 5:21, banging a carom off the boards past goalie Alain Chevrier. ``Chevrier wasn't ready to play tonight but neither were 19 other players,'' Blackhawks coach Mike Keenan said. ``That should never happen,'' said Chicago winger Steve Thomas, who notched a hat trick of his own on the night. ``We seemed like we were ready in the locker room before the game, but obviously we were not.'' MacLellan, who came into the contest with only three goals in 33 games this season, scored his fourth of the night on a deflection at 1:37 of the third period to give Calgary a 5-3 lead. The four-goal game matched his career-best, set when he was a rookie with Los Angeles in 1984. But the Blackhawks came right back with two quick tallies to tie the game 5-5. Thomas scored first, his third of the game and 21st of the season, and Steve Larmer beat Mike Vernon on a slap shot from between the circles at 3:34. Makarov, who gave the Flames a 4-1 lead with a second-period goal, provided the game-winner with his second of the night at 11:58 of the third. The 31-year-old Soviet rookie banged in a rebound past goalie Jacques Cloutier for his 13th goal of the year. The Blackhawks, who came into the contest with a 4-0-2 mark in their last six outings, outshot Calgary 38-25. The Flames were coming off a 6-5 defeat at Toronto Saturday. ``We're supposed to be a defensive club that prides itself on goals against,'' Calgary coach Terry Crisp said. ``Mind you we're not giving back the points, but we can't keep giving up the goals we're giving up.''