NHL
Game 3: St. Louis Blues Take Win Number One, Beating the Calgary Flames 5-3
Last time out the St. Louis Blues hosted the Chicago Blackhawks in a back and forth game that went into overtime. In overtime, Jonathon Toews scored the game-winner and his third of the game to give the Hawks their second win of the year and the Blues their second loss of the year. On Thursday, it was Calgary in town to try and keep the Blues win-less. It was game time in St. Louis.
1st Period
The St. Louis Blues began the period on fire. I would say it was the best start to a game the Blues have had in over a year. I mean the Blues were flying. To start the period, the Blues had the first four shots of the game and had possession of the puck for a majority of the first five minutes.
Robert Bortuzzo has the puck seven and a half minutes into the game and is trying to get it up the ice. As he flips the puck up the ice, it is knocked away by Dillon Dube. Bortuzzo and Dube chase the puck to the boards where Dube finds it and sends a backhand pass to Sam Bennett. He takes it to the net and dekes near Jake Allen. The puck slides off of Bennett’s stick while Allen is on the ice. Bennett slides it to James Neal who smacks the puck into a wide open top shelf with Jake Allen still on the ice doing snow angels.
CLG Goal: James Neal (1) Assisted By Sam Bennett (1) and Dillon Dube (1) 1-0 Flames
The Flames win the faceoff directly after scoring the goal. As they are trying to break into the Blues’ zone, the puck is tipped off a leg. Jordan Kyrou picks the puck up at the blue line and pokes it along to Jay Bouwmeester at the center line by the far wall. Bouwmeester waits for a split second and gives the puck back to Kyrou on the give-and-go. Kyrou enters the offensive zone in the middle of three Flames skaters. Just above the hash marks, Kyrou gives the puck to Alexander Steen who wrists a one-timer on net. The puck beats Mike Smith under the catching glove and into the net for a BLUUUEESSS GOAL just 12 seconds after the ice breaker.
STL Goal: Alexander Steen (1) Assisted By Jordan Kyrou (1 {1st NHL Point}) and Jay Bouwmeester (1) 1-1 Tie
9:45 into the first and about two minutes after the game-tying goal, Alex Pietrangelo chips the puck out. Rasmus Andersson picks it up and heads into his own zone. He is met at the half wall by Jaden Schwartz. Brayden Schenn picks the puck up and carries it towards the net. He holds it for an extra second giving David Perron extra time to get open. Schenn throws it across and Perron puts it into a wide-open net for another BLUUUEESS GOAL.
STL Goal: David Perron (1) Assisted By Brayden Schenn (1) 2-1 Blues
Now there is 2:45 to go in the period and the Blues are on the breakout. Joel Edmundson has the puck to the left side of Jake Allen. Edmundson throws it rink-wide to Robert Bortuzzo. He takes a short glide and fires the puck to Robert Thomas who carries the puck across the blue line and into the Flames’ end. As Thomas uses the time to get behind the Flames net the five skaters of St. Louis are setting upcoming in quick. Thomas throws the puck in front where it hits Ivan Barbashev and finds itself on Joel Edmundson’s stick. Edmundson settles it and fires the puck top shelf on Mike Smith with no pressure for a BLUUUEESSS GOAL.
STL Goal: Joel Edmundson (1) Assisted By Ivan Barbashev (2) and Robert Thomas (1 {1st NHL Point}) 3-1 Blues
2nd Period
This time the Blues have the power play four minutes into the period. Alex Pietrangelo is skating up ice and banks it off the wall back into his own end to Brayden Schenn. He skates up to center ice and slides it across to Alexander Steen who dumps the puck in. To stop the break-in, Mike Smith moves around the net. The puck takes an odd hop and misses Smith’s stick. Schenn snags it and tosses the puck to David Perron who goes from forehand to backhand and taps the puck into an open net with Mike Smith just creeping back into the crease for the fourth BLUUUEESSS POWERPLAY GOAL.
STL Goal: David Perron (2) Assisted By Brayden Schenn (2) and Alexander Steen (1) 4-1 Blues
The Flames have the puck in the zone now and are set up. Bortuzzo has the puck stripped away and now Calgary has it again. It’s thrown in front and a shot is taken and Allen leaves a big rebound. Sam Bennett gets the puck. Jake Allen slides over with perfect timing and takes away Bennett’s angle. Bennett takes a shot put the puck deflects off of Jake’s shoulder and goes out of play.
With 5:41 to go in the period, Calgary has a 2-man-advantage. This is the pivotal point of the game. If the Blues kill off the 5-on-3, they have momentum but if Calgary scores two goals, it is a one-goal game. Jake Allen came up huge for this penalty kill as the Blues kill it off.
The Blues were given a power play with just over two minutes to play and had pressure on the Flames with under a minute to go in the period. Jaden Schwartz has the puck and plays it on the cycle to Schenn. He carries it up past the circle and gives it to David Perron at the point. With Steen in front of the net, Perron throws it low and it beats Mike Smith 5-hole for a BLUUUEESSS POWERPLAY GOAL and a hat-trick.
STL Goal: David Perron (3) Assisted By Brayden Schenn (3) and Jaden Schwartz (2) 5-1 Blues
3rd Period
Coming into the period, the Calgary Flames made a goaltending swap as David Rittich came into the game. Smith allowed five goals on 24 shots.
Jake Allen played really strong this period but the defense was a not playing as good as they were earlier this game.
The Flames had pressure put on the Blues eight minutes into the period. Matthew Tkachuk has it and plays the puck to Derek Ryan. He takes a shot and the rebound finds Austin Czarnik in the far corner. Czarnik gives it to a wide open Ryan who snipes a one-timer past Allen’s blocker.
CLG Goal: Derek Ryan (1) Assisted By Austin Czarnik (2) and Matthew Tkachuk (6) 5-2 Blues
Three minutes later the Flames are in the zone again. Elias Lindholm leaves the puck for Mark Giordano who takes a shot. The shot is blocked and taken by who throws the puck across to Sam Bennett and finds its way into the net. The referees reviewed the play to make sure Bennett did not kick the puck in. It turns out that Alex Pietrangelo was finally doing a good job taking his man out of the play but in doing so, he kicked the puck into his own net for a Flames goal.
CLG Goal: Mikael Backlund (1) Assisted By Mark Giordano (3) and Elias Lindholm (2) 5-3 Blues
Final: St. Louis 5 – Calgary 3
Jake Allen played the best game he has played in a good while. The Blues looked sharp in front of him all game as well with the exception of the last two goals by the Flames. After the last goal, Mike Yeo called a timeout and was not happy. It seemed like he was telling the team to hold the lead. The Blues listened and after the timeout, they shut down Calgary’s offense.
This was the first game in some time that both powerplay units looked like they were firing on all cylinders. So far, this was the best game of the season.
St. Louis improves to 1-1-1 on the year as Jake Allen records his first win of the year.
Thoughts
- The Blues are BACK!!!
- Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas both recorded their first NHL point with assists.
- Everyone looked sharp except for Jakuk Jerabek who played his first game as a Blue and was a -3 in 7:52 of ice time.
What’s Ahead?
St. Louis Blues (1-1-1) fly to Chicago to play visitors to the Chicago Blackhawks (2-0-2) at the United Center on Saturday (10/13). Puck drop is at 7:30 pm.
Other Blues News
- Jaden Schwartz was hurt after a shot hit a leg. He did not practice Friday and is marked as “questionable to doubtful” for the Blues on Saturday.
Social Media
Follow Jared on Twitter @jared_pettus_00
Photo Credit
Photo Courtesy of Zimbio
