Post-Game: Flames sing the blues in St. Louis

The Calgary Flames had their win streak halted at two games. They suffered a one-sided 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night at the Enterprise Center.

The good news is the Flames opened the scoring! The bad news is everything that followed. A Dillon Dube forecheck created a turnover. Sam Bennett couldn’t beat Jake Allen, but he fed James Neal for a quick wrist shot that made it 1-0.

The Blues tied things up very quick, as the Flames got caught watching Jordan Kyrou on a zone entry and he was able to feed a wide open Alex Steen to make it 1-1. A little later Rasmus Andersson coughed up the puck due to pressure from Jaden Schwartz, which allowed Brayden Schenn to feed David Perron for a one-timer and a 2-1 lead.

Later in the period Mike Smith made an initial save on Robert Thomas, but he booted out a rebound right to a charging Joel Edmundson and he buried the rebound to make it 3-1. Sean Monahan drew a penalty shot late in the period but hit the post. Shots were 14-8 Blues in the first, chances were 9-5 Blues.

The Blues went up 4-1 in the second period as Smith mishandled a Blues power play dump in, allowing Perron to tap in a pass into a wide-open net. He completed the hat trick off a decent little passing play later in the period to make it 5-1. Shots were 11-10 Flames but chances were 7-6 Blues.

The Flames attempted to make a game of it in the third period as David Rittich game into the net to mop up. Austin Czarnik’s initial scoring chance was stopped, but he fed Derek Ryan for a one-timer from the face-off circle to make it 5-2.

A Mikael Backlund pass went off Bennett’s skate as he drove the net and beat Allen to make it 5-3. Because the hockey gods hate Bennett, Backund got credit for the goal.

But that’s as close as the Flames got. Shots were 15-8 Flames, chances 13-6 Flames.

Tons of iffy defensive zone play, both at even strength and on the penalty kill. They just couldn’t get organized enough in their own end and they were prone to turnovers. Neither are good things against the Blues.

And Smith wasn’t great at all, allowing five goals and making only 19 shots.

Let’s give it to Bennett, who was pretty dang good. Backlund was also pretty strong.

There are two, really:

If the Flames hit the scoresheet on either of those moments, it’s a much different game.

The Flames special teams had some tough sledding. Their power play was 0-for-4, while their penalty kill went 4-for-6 (allowing a pair of Perron goals).

Dube got his first NHL point with an assist on Neal’s goal in the first period.

The Flames (2-2-0) finish off their road trip on Saturday evening when they visit the Colorado Avalanche.