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Folks, some hockey games are full of emotion and energy. Other games… don’t. The Calgary Flames and St. Louis Blues clashed in the latter type of game on Thursday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The game lacked a ton of emotion, physicality or flow, with both teams seemingly trying to battle through the muck to get anything going offensively.
The two teams slogged through way through it, though. The Flames lost to the Blues 4-3 in overtime.
The rundown
The opening period was pretty back and forth, with the Flames getting off to a bit of a slow start but then gaining a bit of steam as the period went along.
The Blues opened the scoring, though, with Kevin Bahl in the box after getting busted for interference. Blake Coleman rushed to get to a loose puck trickling towards the point in the Flames’ zone, but Philip Broberg got to it first and pushed it down the boards to Brayden Schenn, who whipped it back into the slot for Zachary Bolduc, who fired the puck and wobbled it past Dan Vladar to make it 1-0 Blues. (Coleman rushing to the point was the right play, but St. Louis’ quick passing caught a couple players out of position.)
Exactly two minutes later, the Blues scored again. The Flames turned the puck over in the offensive zone, leading to a rush the other way. Robert Thomas made a nice read of the defensive coverage, found a lane, turned his speed on, and then cut in and fired the puck past Vladar to make it 2-0 Blues.
Before they had a chance to announce that goal, Jakob Pelletier jammed in the rebound after Ryan Lomberg’s initial shot was stopped by Jordan Binnington. Pelletier’s effort around the blue paint cut the Blues’ lead to 2-1.
First period shots were 14-8 Flames. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 14-4 Flames (high-danger chances were 6-3 Flames).
Early in the second period, Martin Pospisil drew a tripping minor, giving the Flames their third power play of the game. On the resulting advantage, Matt Coronato accepted a pass from Connor Zary spun off a check and fired the puck past Jordan Binnington to tie the game at 2-2.
Second period shots were 9-9. Five-on-five scoring chances were 7-6 Blues (high-dangers were 3-2 Blues).
Pospisil took an offensive zone minor in the third period. The Flames killed off that minor, but as Pospisil was re-entering the play Thomas fired a pass to Pavel Buchnevich at the far post, and he scored to give the Blues a 3-2 lead.
But awhile later, there was a stretch of four-on-four play – a Nazem Kadri puck-over-glass minor was washed out by a Jordan Binnington minor for playing the puck outside of the trapezoid. A Yegor Sharangovich pass to Jonathan Huberdeau didn’t find its mark, but the two Flames chased the puck down and fed MacKenzie Weegar in the slot. Weegar blasted the puck past Binnington to tie the game at 3-3.
Third period shots were 15-4 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 8-7 Blues (high-danger chances were 5-3 Blues).
This one headed to overtime. Both teams had their looks, but Thomas skated around Sharangovich and fired the puck on net. Vladar made the initial save while stretching out, but Colton Parayko raced to the crease and jammed the puck across the line. The play was reviewed for awhile, to determine if Vladar’s pad was pushed over the goal line but the goal was upheld and the Blues won 4-3.
Why the Flames got a point
The Flames never had a lead in this game. But give them credit: they kept battling back. They weren’t exceptionally good in this hockey game, but they were perpetually good enough to stick around and grind out a point.
Red Warrior
Let’s give this one to Coronato. He scored a nice goal, he was constantly involved in the play in all three zones, and he won two-thirds of his draws. That’s a tidy bit of work.
Turning point
This game was even the whole way through. Parayko’s game-winner – after a lengthy review – will certainly be a topic of conversation for awhile.
This and that
Jakob Pelletier’s goal was his first-ever NHL goal on home ice.
Up next
The Flames (13-9-5) are headed back on the road. They visit the Dallas Stars on Sunday night.
