CHICAGO - Brendan Morrison, quite rightly, had referred to their buttoned-down set against the St. Louis Blues as a chess match.

Wednesday’s affair?

More like the whole shooting match.

In a wild showdown at the United Center, the Calgary Flames dug a hole, nearly climbed out of it, fell back into it, almost clawed to safety again, then expired at the buzzer against the Chicago Blackhawks.

All the while, they were losing bodies and recovering, losing more bodies and recovering again.

And, oh yes, coughing up a half-dozen goals.

Definitely, the Flames did not look like the tidy team that had built up a 127-minute string of shutout hockey.

But you don’t have to tell them that.

Flames coach Brent Sutter has beaten you to the punch. Defensive deficiencies?

“Too many, obviously,” Sutter said after the 6-4 setback in National Hockey League action Wednesday. “You score four goals on the road, you need to buckle down and you need to win the game.

“We were not good defensively. We gave up over 20 quality scoring chances — that’s not good enough. And that’s why I harp about it.”

Officially, the Flames were saddled with only three giveaways. But Sutter found it to be an unsightly mess — and uncharacteristic of his squad.

“We weren’t assertive,” he grumbled. “We didn’t react to pucks quick enough. We weren’t sharp, mentally, in our own zone.”

With their sixth straight win, the Blackhawks climb over three teams, including the Flames, and into a tie for fourth in the Western Conference. Calgary sits alone at No. 6.

“Darned rights it’s exciting,” said Sutter. “We’re excited that we can be part of it. We worked hard to put ourselves in this situation. We’ll move on. Games happen fast and furious.”

Fast enough that you have to wonder who’ll be available for Friday’s clash against the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets.

For stretches Wednesday, the Flames lost the services of gung-ho defenders Cory Sarich and Mark Giordano, and veteran forwards Niklas Hagman and Morrison. (And there had been pre-game murmurs of rearguards Robyn Regehr and Steve Staios being somewhat less than healthy.)

All but Morrison finished the game. His status, a knee injury, will be updated today.

It had been Giordano’s temporary absence that greatly irked the Flames, who, while on the power play (and trailing by only one), had watched Blackhawks defenceman Brent Seabrook pelt their blueliner headfirst into the fence.

“Hey, the ref admitted he didn’t make the right call,” said Sutter. “He came over at the start of the third and said it should’ve been a penalty. It was clear — a hit in the numbers from behind. A clear cut penalty. It’s what we’re trying to eliminate from the game.”

On the strength of Jonathan Toews’ two goals — with singles to Michael Frolik and Brian Campbell — the Blackhawks had forged ahead before the second intermission.

Toews, who took first-star bows while being serenaded with chants of “MVP! MVP!”, has 25 points in his past 15 games.

That 4-1 lead should have been the end. Heck, in years past, that would have certainly been it.

“We’d get down on ourselves . . . we’d be down 4-1 and they’d make it 7-1 or 7-2,” said Iginla, who’d set up Alex Tanguay’s power-play marker in the opening period. “Now we’re finding ways to find a spark. Now there’s confidence that each line can get a goal.”

Sutter excused starter Miikka Kiprusoff after 40 minutes, inserting Henrik Karlsson.

“I was trying to change the momentum,” said the coach, “and I thought it worked for a while.”

Rene Bourque scored 84 seconds into the third period and Iginla connected at 8:44 to make it 4-3.

“Then you’re not sharp again,” said Sutter, “and you get the fifth goal scored against you. We were resilient in the sense that we kept battling back — we fought back. But obviously we can’t play that way in our own zone.”

Dave Bolland gave the Blackhawks a two-goal cushion, but Bourque counted again to make 5-4.

Marian Hossa added an empty-net goal as Calgary lost for the ninth straight time, including playoffs, in this building. (Their last win, March 2008, featured a winning goal from Kristian Huselius, on a feed from Owen Nolan.)

“Going into the third period, everybody in our room still believed we could mount a comeback,” said Iginla. “That’s saying a lot, being on the road against the defending Stanley Cup champions.”

scruickshank@calgaryherald.com