Flames Fall In Shootout 5-4 To St. Louis

Calgary Flames 4 – St. Louis Blues 5 (SO)

Complete Stats

Recap

The Flames returned to the ice after 10 days off and I think you got just about what you would expect. A little good, a little bad and a little in-between.

Most of the positives from tonight involved the Flames offence. Calgary’s top players looked rejuvenated from the start and they played solid all night long. Sean Monahan had two goals, Johnny Gaudreau had two helpers, Matthew Tkachuk scored and had an assist and Mark Giordano had two assists as well. The Flames were also able to capitalize on St. Louis mistakes. The Blues would take four penalties on the night and the Flames would score three times with the man advantage.

Some of the negatives? Calgary looked sloppy at times. They turned the puck over 12 times on the night and blew two different leads. The back breaker early was Calgary’s 2-1 lead that evaporated in the span of 44 seconds. St. Louis would score two, late first period goals off the sticks of David Perron and Jaden Shwartz in less than a minute to kill Calgary’s brief one goal lead.

The teams would trade goalless periods (Calgary 3rd, St. Louis 2nd), but an early third period score by St. Louis would tie this game at 4-4 a mere 51 seconds into the final frame and that was it for regulation.

Overtime showed some promise for the Flames, especially getting a 4 on 3 PP in sudden death, but neither team would score and the game would, unfortunately, head to the gimmick session. Calgary shooters Sean Monahan and Matthew Tkachuk would come up empty, while David Perron and Ryan O’Reilly would score and send the Flames to defeat, snapping their own four game losing streak.

Scoring

Calgary Flames

1st: PPG 10:38- Tkachuk (16) (Giordano/Lindholm), PPG 15:43- Monahan (15) (Gaudreau/Giordano)

2nd: PPG 4:40- Monahan (16) (Gaudreau/Tkachuk), 9:47- Jankowski (2) (Bennett/Backlund)

3rd: None

OT: None

SO: None

St. Louis Blues

1st: 5:45- Steen (5) (Thomas), 18:41- Perron (22) (Sandford/Pietrangelo), PPG 19:25- Schwartz (17) (Schenn/Pietrangelo)

2nd: None

3rd: 00:51- Sanford (6) (O’Reilly/Perron)

OT: None

SO: Perron, O’Reilly

Final Thoughts

The Flames were able to get a point, which was nice, but when you score three PPG you should walk away with two points. The Flames had St. Louis on the second night of a back to back and they were well rested, yet they just seemed to be off in the third period and they could have used a goal there.

Cam Talbot got his first start since January 11th, a 4-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Talbot looked rusty and at times was fighting the puck. The Flames keeper was the benefactor of two St. Louis shots that found the post and a goal removed due to a Coach’s Challenge for offside. This was definitely not Talbot’s best showing for sure. Talbot stopped 30 of 34, but overall he looked like a guy who hadn’t played in 17 days.

Flame Of The Game

Sean Monahan (C): 2 goals, 4 SOG, 71% FO, +/- 0

What’s Next?

1/29: Calgary Flames @ Edmonton Oilers, 8 PM MT

by Mark Parkinson