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St. Louis Blues @ Calgary Flames, 8pm MT, Scotiabank Saddledome, Calgary, AB
| Broadcast Schedule |
|---|
| TV: CBC, Fox Sports Midwest, RSN |
| Radio: Sportsnet 960 |
The Flames will try to get back on the winning track as they welcome the first place St. Louis Blues to the Saddledome Saturday night. The Flames come in to this game with the NHL’s worst PP at 4.5%, while St. Louis is 4th in the league in killing penalties. The Flames also find themselves at the top of the NHL at allowing pucks in their own net. Calgary has surrendered a league worst 20 goals against and Chad Johnson will find himself in net tonight to try and get this ship headed in the right direction. One thing the Flames have going for them tonight is that they are playing at home. Calgary holds a commanding 45-37-5 all time record at home against the St. Louis Blues. Last season these two split in Calgary with the Flames throttling the Blues 7-4 on March 14th.
Calgary’s early season struggles can be pinned on goaltending, defence and the constant changing of line pairings. So outside of that, everything is fine. Brian Elliott is shouldering a lot of the blame as he has yet to get the Flames into the win column in any of his starts. He’s 53rd in the league in Save % and is second in most goals given up at 14. While he has had some bad play in front of him, a goalie must steal a game from time to time and Elliott has yet to do that. Chad Johnson meanwhile has been the most consistent keeper the Flames have had and deservedly so, he will get the start tonight.
The Blues on the other hand have gotten stellar goaltending from Carter Hutton and Jake Allen. Both have Save % .900 or greater and allowed only 10 goals COMBINED on the season. Vladamir Tarasenko and Paul Stastny are tied for the team lead with 6 points each and the team itself is looking to get back on track after starting off hot (3 wins in a row) and dropping their last 2. Here’s how the teams match-up:
| Calgary Flames | St. Louis Blues | |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3-1 | Record | 3-1-1 |
| 3 | Points | 7 |
| 5th Pacific | Division | 1st Central |
| 6th West | Conference | 2nd West |
| N/A | Last 10 | N/A |
| 14 | Goals For | 13 |
| 20 | Goals Against | 11 |
| Frolik (3) | Goals | Tarasenko (4) |
| Backlund (4) | Points | Stastny (6) |
| Johnson (.923) | SV % | Hutton (.943) |
| 4.5% (30th) | PP % | 21.1% (10th) |
| 77.8% (19th) | PK % | 94.1% (4th) |
Calgary Flames 2 Carolina Hurricanes 4
The Flames last took to the ice on Thursday night and were bested by the Hurricanes 4-2. Brian Elliott returned to the net for the Flames and gave up 4 goals on 32 shots. The Hurricanes scored the first 3 goals and never looked back. Here’s our recap and the highlights.
| Goals | Shots | Shots Allowed | Hits | FOW | PIM | Giveaways | Takeaways | PP | PK |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 26 | 32 | 17 | 27/59 | 16 | 11 | 5 | 0/6 | 6/8 |
The Blues last took to the ice on Thursday and ran into a red hot Oilers team and were beaten 3-1. Former Oiler Nail Yakupov scored the only goal for the Blues as they dropped their second straight game after winning their first 3. Here are the highlights:
| Player | Record | Save % | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary: Chad Johnson | 1-0-1 | .923 | 1.89 |
| St. Louis: Jake Allen | 2-1-1 | .909 | 1.99 |
Players To Watch
Calgary Flames: Michael Frolik (F). The Czech forward is Calgary’s leading goal scorer on the young season and has picked up the offense while the Flames stars get back into game shape. Of the 3 goals he has, 2 of them have come at the Saddledome. He was held scoreless against Carolina after getting a goal in 3 of his first 4 games.
St. Louis Blues: Paul Stastny (C). Stastny started off hot for the Blues scoring in 3 of their first 5 games, but has been held off the score sheet in their last two games. His 6 points puts him just outside (6th) of the top 5 in scoring for NHL centermen. Stastny isn’t requiring many shots to put the puck in the net either. In the games where he’s scored his 2 goals, he’s taken only 3 shots.