Post-Game: Blues drop Flames back to .500

On Tuesday night in Nashville, the Calgary Flames rallied back in the third period to get two points in a tough road building. On Wednesday night in St. Louis, they just didn’t have the gas left in the tank to do it again. After getting down 3-1 by the mid-point of the second period, the Flames just couldn’t generate enough chances in the third period to tie things up.

They lost the second game of a back-to-back on the road by a 5-2 score and fall back to the .500 mark.

Calgary struck first on the road. Mikael Backlund jumped on for a momentarily banged-up Sean Monahan (he was fine) and had a great shift, driving into the offensive zone and aiding in a bunch of puck recoveries. Matthew Tkachuk fed Backlund in the high slot for a wrist shot and a 1-0 lead.

But the lead wouldn’t last. Travis Hamonic coughed up the puck in the defensive zone and some rapid-fire passing later Alexander Steen beat Eddie Lack high from the side of the net to make it 1-1. Shots were 12-9 Flames and scoring chances were 7-7.

Penalties were the difference in the second period. As usual, it was not in the Flames’ favour. With Sam Bennett in the box Michael Stone failed to clear the zone, leading to a scramble where the Blues hit the post and Jaden Schwartz put the puck past a sprawling Lack to make it 2-1 Blues. A Michael Frolik negated a short Flames power play and on the ensuing Blues power play Alex Pietrangelo scored on a wrister through traffic to make it 3-1. But the Flames got back within one on a weird play: Backlund dumped the puck into the Blues zone. Jake Allen went out to play the puck and fell over, allowing Tkachuk to feed Backlund out front for a tap-in to make it 3-2.

Shots were 9-7 Blues, but scoring chances were 10-4 Flames.

The third period was very low event. The Flames pressed but the Blues defended intelligently (and the Flames were looking out of gas). The Blues added some insurance late: Mark Giordano took a slap shot to the ankle, leading to a coverage breakdown that allowed Paul Stastny to walk in and beat Lack with a high wrist shot to go up 4-2. Joel Edmundson added an empty-netter to make it 5-2. Shots were 11-6 Blues and scoring chances were 7-3 Blues.

 

They’re a good even strength team. But man, they need to be better at special teams. They’ve allowed four power play goals in their last two games, and their kills don’t really challenge the opposition at all. If you lose the special teams battle, you probably lose the game.

Backlund was very good tonight, so he gets it. But stick-tap to Tkachuk, who had a second strong game in a row.

The Stastny goal to make it 4-2 was the dagger. There was no way the Flames could overcome a two-goal lead that late (against the Blues).

Curtis Lazar was benched for the better part of the third period, possibly due to performance and possibly due to injury – the last thing that happened before he disappeared for a big chunk of the game was being hit by Jaden Schwartz.

Matthew Phillps had an assist to hit the 30-point mark and extend his season-long point streak to 15 games, but Victoria lost 4-3 to Prince Albert. Zack Fischer had a goal against his own team as Spokane continued their Alberta roadie in Medicine Hat.

In the ECHL, Tyler Parsons left Kansas City’s game after the first period following a goal-mouth collision. But Mason McDonald was solid in relief and they beat Kalamazoo 4-3 in a shootout.

The Flames (5-5-0) are headed home. They host the Dallas Stars on Friday night at the Saddledome.