In the National Hockey League, the schedule is what the schedule is, and there will be points during an 82 game stretch that there are games where not much happens. On Tuesday night, the Calgary Flames visited the St. Louis Blues and played their third game in four nights. The Flames looked… fine. The Blues looked… fine. And they played three periods of hockey where not a ton happened for big stretches.

The Flames just couldn’t muster enough oomph in a sleepy 60 minutes of ice hockey in St. Louis. They lost to the Blues by a 2-1 score.

49 seconds into the first period, on the first shift of the game, the Blues grabbed an early lead. Brayden Schenn’s initial shot was blocked and rebounded out to Colton Parayko. Parayko fired a seeing-eye shot that found a way past Dan Vladar and into the net to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

The remainder of the period was pretty even. Each team had a first period power play, but neither scored.

First period shots were 8-8. Via Natural Stat Trick, five-on-five scoring chances were 5-3 Blues (high-danger chances were 2-1 Blues).

The Blues had the territorial advantage throughout the second period, but couldn’t translate zone time into goals. The Blues had three shots on a power play but Vladar stood tall. The Flames had zero shots on their power play.

Second period shots were 10-9 Flames. Five-on-five scoring chances were 12-3 Blues (high-danger chances were 3-1 Blues).

Midway through the third, the Flames managed to tie the game. Martin Pospisil made a nifty pass from the corner of the Blues’ zone to the far point to Kevin Bahl. Bahl walked in, froze Jordan Binnington with a faked slap shot, then beat him with a deceptive wrist shot to tie the game at 1-1.

But a few minutes later, Blues retook their lead. Tyler Tucker fired the puck from the point and Radek Faksa got a blade on it, deflecting it past Vladar to give the Blues a 2-1 lead.

The Flames pulled Vladar for the extra attacker late, but the Blues held on for the 2-1 victory.

Third period shots were 9-8 Flames.

It was the Flames’ third game in four nights and they looked it. The Blues did a nice job pushing the pace early, then relied on their structure to clog up middle of neutral and defensive zones. The Flames didn’t have the energy to make this a high-octane game, and the Blues had no interest in allowing it to be one, and so they seemed content to make this a bit of a slog.

It’s also worth noting that the Flames’ two power plays didn’t register a single shot on goal – Natural Stat Trick credited them with two shot attempts and zero scoring chances (of any danger level). This was the type of sleepy game where a better power play could’ve helped the Flames eke out a point or two.

Bahl scored the Flames’ lone goal, but he also did a good job in general of trying to get pucks on net and using his size to disrupt the Blues’ attacks.

Faksa’s go-ahead goal was a tough one, especially considering how little the Flames had been able to generate offensively in the game to that point.

This was Dan Vladar’s fourth start this season in a “scheduled loss” situation; he’s lost all four.

The Flames split a back-to-back set for the third time in five sets this season. They’ve also won both games once and lost both games once.

The Flames (21-15-7) are back in action on Thursday night when they play the Blues… again!