Preview: The St. Louis Blues (20-20-4) will play the Calgary Flames (21-14-7) twice this week in unusual back-to-back home games. How unusual you ask…first time since November 2022. Jake Neighbours moves to the first line for Brandon Saad alongside Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. Alexandre Texier is back in the lineup for Zack Bolduc on the third line, Mathieu Joseph is in for Nathan Walker on the fourth line. Jordan Binnington starts in the net. Calgary starts Dan Vladar between the pipes.
Blues strike quick…
They need a big start and the Blues get it 49 seconds in and a flurry of shots with several Blues causing confusion with traffic in front of the net, Colton Parayko scores his 9th of the season on a blast from the faceoff circle…top shelf. Brayden Schenn and Cam Fowler get the assists. It's the second official shot on the net and Parayko has scored in back-to-back games. Third time this season the Blues have scored in the first minute.
Five minutes in…the Blues have five shots to two advantage over the Flames…1-0 Blues.
With 9:07 left the Blues go to the powerplay. Calgary ranked last on the road on the penalty kill…Blues get three shots on the PP but cannot extend the lead.
At 6:22 Oskar Sundqvist takes a slashing penalty right out in front of the Blues goal. Blues are 26th in the league on the kill…and kill this one off…no shots.
Shots end up Blues 8…Flames 7.
Blues hold serve in period 2…
Calgary with an advantage in the first 5 minutes of the period…4 shots to zero for the Blues until 4:32 when the Blues go to the powerplay. Three shots on the PP…no goals…we remain 1-0.
The midway point of the game and the Blues still with a 1-goal lead in a tight-checking 2nd period…Flames with 13 SOGs and the Blues with 11…the Blues with 8 scoring chances to 3 for Calgary.
With 4:12 left…we have a penalty…Ryan Sutter with a weak interference call against…no shots again!
End of 2 periods, and the Blues continue to lead 1-0…SOG 18 to 17 in favor of the Flames. Binnington came up BIG with several key saves in the period. Blues lead the scoring chances 12 to 7.
Blues give and take for the win…
Blues 15-2-1 when leading after 2 periods. Binnington with two huge point-blank saves in the first 4 minutes to keep the 1 goal lead.
On their 21st shot Calgary defenseman Kevin Bahl, all alone fires a shot stick side and beats Binnington's stick…we are tied at 1 with 14 minutes left.
With 8:49 left in the 3rd…Tyler Tucker flips a shot from the blue line after a nice play by Alexi Toropchenko to feed it from the half board to Tucker, and Radek Faksa tips the shot up over the glove of Vladar. Faksa’s 3rd of the year. 2 -1!
5 Minutes!! The ice is tilted towards the Flames as they put the pressure on the Blues defense…and Calgary pulls the goalie with 2 minutes left in the period. Blues withstand the push by the Flames and hold on for the win 2 to 1. The Flames with the edge in shots 27 to 25 and the Blues move 1 game above .500. Back at it again on Thursday night.
Notes: Since Dec. 23, the Blues have scored 40 goals, which is the most in the NHL in that span (2. Columbus, 35)…The Blues are now 11-6-4 in one-goal games this season, which shares the most wins in that scenario in the NHL (seven other teams with 10 wins in one-goal games)…Parayko ranks fourth in the NHL in blocked shots with 107 (1. Jacob Trouba, 126).