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CALGARY, Alberta -- The Calgary Flames struggled to win with Johnny Gaudreau. Now they face a long stretch in which they must win without him.The Flames play their second game without their injured star on Friday, hosting a Chicago Blackhawks squad that is infinitely better than the team they defeated in their first game without Gaudreau on Wednesday, the Arizona Coyotes.Every guy recognizes that we lost a really good player and now collectively we have to play a certain way to get ourselves in a position to get points in this league, Calgary coach Glen Gulutzan said. Its certainly hurt us as a hockey club, but we look at it as something we can rally around and try to find a true identity here.Gaudreau underwent surgery Wednesday afternoon after breaking a finger the night before when slashed by Minnesota Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. He is expected to miss about six weeks, Calgary general manager Brad Treliving said.The Flames (7-10-1) beat the Wild 1-0 on Tuesday on Gaudreaus goal and followed it up the next night by eking out a 2-1 overtime victory over Coyotes, who are last overall in the 30-team league.Up next, however, is one of the leagues elite squads, Chicago, which is third overall entering Fridays play. The Blackhawks (11-4-2) began a seven-game road trip with a 4-0 loss in Winnipeg on Tuesday, which ended their seven-game winning streak and marked the first time they failed to gain at least a point in 11.Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville is very conscious that the chasing teams arent far behind.Theres a real big pack in the middle; everybody seems to be just around the .500 mark, he told the Chicago Tribune. The way weve been playing, were fortunate where we are in the standings. Its a tremendous pack where everybodys in the mix and there are no easy games.The Flames took Thursday off from both skating and answering questions about how they were going to overcome the loss of Gaudreau, who after struggling to start the season appeared to be rounding into form. He had three goals in his last two games.Were sort of working around a six-week timeframe (for his absence), Treliving said. Hopefully its shorter. ...We dont have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to come together. ... Everyone has injuries. You deal with them.The Blackhawks began their 13-day road trip unhappy with their play despite not having lost in regulation since Oct. 21 prior to the Winnipeg setback. Expectations certainly are higher for a team chasing first place overall than they are for someone like the Flames, who are just trying to stay in the hunt for a playoff spot.Its not how you want to start (the trip) at all, Quenneville told the Chicago Sun-Times. 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LIVERPOOL, England -- Its a year since Juergen Klopp breezed into English football as the new manager of Liverpool, and the bespectacled, fun-loving German has established himself as the most charismatic coach in the Premier League.Hes proving to be the shrewdest, too.In a summer transfer window of record spending by English top-flight clubs that topped 1 billion pounds (now $1.2 billion) for the first time, Liverpool returned a profit -- reportedly between 10-15 million pounds -- as Klopp juggled his squad with mostly lower-profile recruits.Fears that Liverpool would be left behind by its big-spending rivals have proved unfounded: The strategy has worked out just fine.Klopps team has had the toughest schedule of anyone in the league after seven games but is currently fourth in the standings, two points off first-place Manchester City. The Reds have taken a total of seven points from away games against Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea, thrashed champion Leicester 4-1 and are the joint leading scorers with 18 goals.That start to the season compares favorably to that of Manchester United, which visits Anfield on Monday for what traditionally is the biggest game on the English calendar between the two most decorated teams in the country.United had the second-biggest net spend (an estimated $170 million) of any English club in the transfer window under new coach Jose Mourinho, taking a Galactico-style approach to its signings by bringing in Paul Pogba for a world-record fee and superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.United is three points behind Liverpool in seventh place, despite having had easier-looking fixtures.Klopp spoke Friday of the world-class players that Mourinho has brought in, but without a sense of jealousy.Quite simply, hes happy with what hes got.Its not a?competition. Its not that you win the league before the season, Klopp said at Liverpools Melwood training ground. You have a team without spending money and you have a team with spending a lot of money. Everybody has their own posssibilities, their own ideas.ddddddddddddWe did what we did because we thought its the right thing, for us.Monday will mark a year since Klopp took charge of his first Liverpool match -- a 0-0 draw at Tottenham -- and hes quickly stamped his mark on the team.Liverpool has a defined style of play, the high-energy counterpressing game long favored by Klopp and carried over from his time in Germany with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund. He spoke effusively of the performance of his wild boys after Liverpool beat Hull 5-1 in the last match at Anfield, led by the energetic and nimble forward trio of Roberto Firmino, Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane.Its in this regard that Liverpool is way ahead of United, which is still searching for an identity in the early months of Mourinhos reign. Mourinho has repeatedly said it would take time for the methods of his predecessor, Louis van Gaal, to be completely erased.After winning its first three games, United won only one of its next four.What I heard is that you think we are in a good moment and they (United) are not in a good moment, Klopp said in a news conference. I cant see the big difference with three points. They have big quality in their team and we have to respect this but, of course, its Anfield. We have to show this. Im hoping for the best atmosphere. It will help.The home atmosphere helped last season, when Liverpool overwhelmed Van Gaals United in a 2-0 win at Anfield in the Europa Leagues round of 16.Creating a special atmosphere is important, Klopp said. Thats the challenge for us -- take the special thing about this game, then (add it to) our usual and normal style.For his part, Mourinho was terse in his assessment of both Liverpools title credentials and Klopps influence at Anfield.You have to ask them; they are a good team, Mourinho said.When asked about Klopps impact, Mourinho replied simply: Ive not much to say. ' ' '