<p>On Thursday night, for the second time in three days, the Calgary Flames faced the St. Louis Blues on the road. For the second time in three days, they were held to just a single goal and just couldn&#8217;t muster enough offence to overcome their mistakes.</p>
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<p>They lost to the Blues by a 4-1 score, bringing the Blues within a single point of the Flames for the final Western Conference wildcard playoff spot.</p>
<p>Here are five key moments from Thursday&#8217;s loss.</p>
<h2>Turnovers lead to first Blues goal (4:55, first period)</h2>
<p>Let&#8217;s call a spade a spade: the Flames were not particularly good in the first period. The Blues registered seven of the first eight shots on goal in this game, and that&#8217;s a pretty representative stat in terms of how the play went. The Flames were on their heels, the Blues were good at using speed and forechecking to create havoc, and that&#8217;s what led to their opening goal.</p>
<p>Joel Hanley and MacKenzie Weegar, both very low-risk defensive options usually in their own end, <em>both</em> turned the puck over below their own goal line. It led to a nice bang-bang pass-and-shoot play where Dylan Holloway fed Brayden Schenn.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">St. Louis opens the scoring. </p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet | NHL<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Flames</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlblues?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlblues</a> <a href="https://t.co/YUsClkWV32">pic.twitter.com/YUsClkWV32</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) <a href="https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880061795030954010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Speaking to the travelling media (via Flames TV), Flames head coach Ryan Huska had a pretty succinct answer where asked about the start.</p>
<p>&#8220;I felt there was one team that had the urgency to start the game and one team didn&#8217;t. And unfortunately we were the team that didn&#8217;t tonight.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Dustin Wolf allows a (rare) bad goal (13:53, first period)</h2>
<p>Dustin Wolf has generated well-deserved Calder Trophy buzz. Heck, he&#8217;s got some of the best goaltending numbers in the entire NHL this season and he&#8217;s just 23. But he was not great early against the Blues.</p>
<p>The second St. Louis goal was a Colton Parayko shot with zero screens or traffic that Wolf saw the whole way. It beat him. By his lofty standards, it&#8217;s a &#8220;bad&#8221; goal.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">2-0 St. Louis. Colton Parayko with the goal. </p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet | NHL<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Flames</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlblues?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlblues</a> <a href="https://t.co/M96ZhP2Wcm">pic.twitter.com/M96ZhP2Wcm</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) <a href="https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880066642358726919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>&#8220;I thought he battled,&#8221; said Huska of Wolf&#8217;s performance. &#8220;I mean there&#8217;s some goals I think he&#8217;d probably like to have back and it&#8217;s going to happen for a young guy. But I think the one thing that we would look for is how he responds. And I thought he did a pretty good job the rest of the way making some saves and staying competitive for us.&#8221;</p>
<p>Wolf remains a very impressive netminder despite a tough night. He&#8217;s saved 13.5 goals above expected at five-on-five (via Natural Stat Trick) and 7.3 goals above expected overall.</p>
<h2>Yegor Sharangovich gets the Flames on the board (11:14, second period)</h2>
<p>For the second time on the road trip, Yegor Sharangovich scored a nice goal. Considering he was in &#8220;he may never score again!&#8221; territory, it&#8217;s heartening to see him get his mojo back a little bit.</p>
<p>The Flames&#8217; lone goal was a nice bit of work by the third line, with youngsters Jakob Pelletier and Rory Kerins doing a nice job on puck retrieval and Pelletier finding Sharangovich in the slot area.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">🔥FLAMES GOAL🔥</p>
<p>Jakob Pelletier makes a great play to find Yegor Sharangovich in the slot and he buries it! </p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet | NHL<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Flames</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlblues?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlblues</a> <a href="https://t.co/h02UUMVXFV">pic.twitter.com/h02UUMVXFV</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) <a href="https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880079358213386613?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
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<h2>The Blues respond on the power play (17:39, second period)</h2>
<p>The Flames were very good in the second period. Sure, the Blues were nursing a 3-0 lead, which was trimmed to 3-1 when Sharangovich scored. You can make the &#8220;it was score effects!&#8221; argument, and you&#8217;re probably not wrong, but the Blues did a nice enough job letting the Flames do their thing, tire themselves out, and then pounce when they made a mistake.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s easy to be patient when you&#8217;re holding a multi-goal lead.</p>
<p>The Flames timed a line change poorly, leading to a Brayden Pachal minor penalty. Schenn redirected a pass to the front of the net past Wolf on the ensuing power play to restore the Blues&#8217; three goal lead.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">4-1 Blues. </p>
<p>Frustrating goal to let in for the Flames. They&#39;ve dominated the 2nd period but won&#39;t have anything to show for it. </p>
<p>🎥: Sportsnet | NHL<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Flames</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlblues?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlblues</a> <a href="https://t.co/6MOXEA2vFz">pic.twitter.com/6MOXEA2vFz</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) <a href="https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880083693232111794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Huska noted that the goal &#8220;took a little bit of the life out of us there&#8221;</p>
<h2>Brayden Pachal fights Nathan Walker (17:49, third period)</h2>
<p>Pachal had a bit of a tough night, but he continued to play physical in the third period even as the Blues seemed to grow tired of his rambunctiousness.</p>
<p>Eventually, Pachal ended up scrapping with Nathan Walker in the waning moments of the game, his fourth bout of the season.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Forget the difference in height, Nathan Walker scraps with Brayden Pachal in a great bout 🥊 <a href="https://t.co/cKczfAjk1f">pic.twitter.com/cKczfAjk1f</a></p>
<p>&mdash; B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) <a href="https://twitter.com/BR_OpenIce/status/1880098803447132432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 17, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Pachal didn&#8217;t have his best night, but at least he kept battling until the bitter end.</p>
<p>The Flames close out their road trip on Saturday night in Winnipeg against the Jets.</p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet 365:</strong></p>
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On Thursday night, for the second time in three days, the Calgary Flames faced the St. Louis Blues on the road. For the second time in three days, they were held to just a single goal and just couldn't muster enough offence to overcome their mistakes.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2109" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="328"></div>
They lost to the Blues by a 4-1 score, bringing the Blues within a single point of the Flames for the final Western Conference wildcard playoff spot.

Here are five key moments from Thursday's loss.
<h2>Turnovers lead to first Blues goal (4:55, first period)</h2>
Let's call a spade a spade: the Flames were not particularly good in the first period. The Blues registered seven of the first eight shots on goal in this game, and that's a pretty representative stat in terms of how the play went. The Flames were on their heels, the Blues were good at using speed and forechecking to create havoc, and that's what led to their opening goal.

Joel Hanley and MacKenzie Weegar, both very low-risk defensive options usually in their own end, <em>both</em> turned the puck over below their own goal line. It led to a nice bang-bang pass-and-shoot play where Dylan Holloway fed Brayden Schenn.

https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880061795030954010

Speaking to the travelling media (via Flames TV), Flames head coach Ryan Huska had a pretty succinct answer where asked about the start.

"I felt there was one team that had the urgency to start the game and one team didn't. And unfortunately we were the team that didn't tonight."
<h2>Dustin Wolf allows a (rare) bad goal (13:53, first period)</h2>
Dustin Wolf has generated well-deserved Calder Trophy buzz. Heck, he's got some of the best goaltending numbers in the entire NHL this season and he's just 23. But he was not great early against the Blues.

The second St. Louis goal was a Colton Parayko shot with zero screens or traffic that Wolf saw the whole way. It beat him. By his lofty standards, it's a "bad" goal.

https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880066642358726919

"I thought he battled," said Huska of Wolf's performance. "I mean there's some goals I think he'd probably like to have back and it's going to happen for a young guy. But I think the one thing that we would look for is how he responds. And I thought he did a pretty good job the rest of the way making some saves and staying competitive for us."

Wolf remains a very impressive netminder despite a tough night. He's saved 13.5 goals above expected at five-on-five (via Natural Stat Trick) and 7.3 goals above expected overall.
<h2>Yegor Sharangovich gets the Flames on the board (11:14, second period)</h2>
For the second time on the road trip, Yegor Sharangovich scored a nice goal. Considering he was in "he may never score again!" territory, it's heartening to see him get his mojo back a little bit.

The Flames' lone goal was a nice bit of work by the third line, with youngsters Jakob Pelletier and Rory Kerins doing a nice job on puck retrieval and Pelletier finding Sharangovich in the slot area.

https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880079358213386613
<h2>The Blues respond on the power play (17:39, second period)</h2>
The Flames were very good in the second period. Sure, the Blues were nursing a 3-0 lead, which was trimmed to 3-1 when Sharangovich scored. You can make the "it was score effects!" argument, and you're probably not wrong, but the Blues did a nice enough job letting the Flames do their thing, tire themselves out, and then pounce when they made a mistake.

It's easy to be patient when you're holding a multi-goal lead.

The Flames timed a line change poorly, leading to a Brayden Pachal minor penalty. Schenn redirected a pass to the front of the net past Wolf on the ensuing power play to restore the Blues' three goal lead.

https://twitter.com/RingOfFireCGY/status/1880083693232111794

Huska noted that the goal "took a little bit of the life out of us there"
<h2>Brayden Pachal fights Nathan Walker (17:49, third period)</h2>
Pachal had a bit of a tough night, but he continued to play physical in the third period even as the Blues seemed to grow tired of his rambunctiousness.

Eventually, Pachal ended up scrapping with Nathan Walker in the waning moments of the game, his fourth bout of the season.

https://twitter.com/BR_OpenIce/status/1880098803447132432

Pachal didn't have his best night, but at least he kept battling until the bitter end.

The Flames close out their road trip on Saturday night in Winnipeg against the Jets.

<strong>Sponsored by bet 365:</strong>
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5 key moments from the Flames 4-1 loss vs. Blues

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin (8) shoots the puck against the Calgary Flames during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome.

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