Post-Game: Out-Gunned

After a win in Edmonton on Thursday, the Calgary Flames hit the road in earnest on Saturday night when they visited the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center.

The road hit back.

The Flames dropped a rather one-sided game by a 4-1 score. The Blues didn’t give the Flames much, and took advantage of their chances. Given the fact that the home side got the lead 48 seconds into the game, on the very first shot of the game, the outcome was never in doubt and the Blues never really seemed too impressed or concerned with the visitors from Calgary.

The score got lopsided early, as Joakim Lindstrom was the beneficiary of some really nice passing involving Paul Stastny (who’s really good), ending with Lindstrom getting a tap-in past a sprawling Jonas Hiller. The Blues controlled the play from then on. Matt Stajan took a tripping penalty, leading to a David Backes power-play tip-in goal that made it 2-0 mid-way through the period. From then-on, the Blues merely kept the Flames to the outside, despite the Flames generating two zone entries per minute. That sounds nice, but it also means they spent very little time in the offensive zone per possession – which speaks to the Blues’ defensive structure. The Blues led in shots by a meager 9-8 margin, but remember score effects.

The second period was also mostly the Blues. After a shoving match ended up with Deryk Engelland in the penalty box, Alex Pietrangelo scored off a big end-boards rebound from a wide angle to beat a sprawling Jonas Hiller and make it 3-0. Mid-way through the period, Vladimir Tarasenko made it 4-0 off a gorgeous set-up from behind the net that found him all alone in the slot. That made it 4-0, all on goals poor Jonas Hiller had very little chance of stopping. Shots 19-7 Blues, and the Flames had much fewer zone entries and the Blues had much more time in the Flames zone.

The third period was similar to the first; the Blues seemed content to play keep away and not run up the score. Their power-play was prime example: they tossed things around the horn, but seemed content to run down the clock and not embarrass the visitors. In a game where Brandon Bollig and Brian McGrattan were dressed, Deryk Engelland got involved in the first Flames fight of the season.

The Flames finally broke the potential shut-out with a power-play marker from Curtis Glencross late, but the game ended with the Flames losing 4-1. The Blues out-shot the Flames 11-9 in the third, despite two Flames power-plays and the Blues playing catch all period.

They weren’t nearly as good as the Blues at even-strength, as the Blues are a very stacked, very structured team. The Flames tried, but missing Jiri Hudler – one of the team’s key offensive cogs – they couldn’t generate a heck of a lot.

Also, their penalty kill continues to be not that great, and they took too many penalties against a really good Blues power-play.

T.J. Brodie was all over the place. Stopping odd-man rushes, generating zone entries and doing his best to create scoring chances. On a night where the Flames were out-matched, Brodie did his level best to try to make it a game.

Paul Byron also had a pretty strong night, albeit in a losing cause.

A note on Gaudreau – the majority of his entries came in the first period when he had four in a single shift and didn’t generate much of anything. He had just one in the third period, and I’m reasonably sure his ice-time was greatly reduced then, too.

Bouma and Brodie had a good night in terms of zone-entries, though.

The Flames drop to 1-2-0 on the season. They get two days off to lick their wounds – and hopefully get Jiri Hudler healthy – before heading into back-to-back games. They face Nashville on Tuesday in the Music City, then head to the Second City to face the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday evening.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire, eh?