Preview: Calgary Flames @ St. Louis Blues 10/11/18 (4/82): Flames Look To Push Streak To 3

Calgary Flames @ St. Louis Blues, 6 PM MT, Enterprise Center, St. Louis MO

Calgary Flames 2-1-0 (4 points) – St. Louis Blues 0-1-1 (1 point)

(NHLStandings)

The Flames second stop on a 3 game road trip takes them to St. Louis for a Thursday night showdown with the Blues. Calgary has won 2 in a row after dropping their season opener, but a visit to St. Louis is never a sure thing when it comes to the Flames. Calgary is 2-8-0 in their last 10 visits to the gateway to the West, including what was a 7 game losing streak in the Blues home building.

Calgary’s strong play of late can’t be pinned on one part of the team and that’s the beauty of how they have been playing. The PP is clicking (5-10), the top line has been scoring at will, Mike Smith was brilliant against Nashville and the defence has been solid as well, especially with a youth laden tandem of Rasmus Andersson and Juuso Valimaki. So yes, things are coming up roses lately and Calgary would love to take the second game of this 3 game road swing.

St. Louis has only been able to garner 1 point so far this season, a 5-4 OT loss to the Chicago Blackhawks all the way back on Saturday. The Blues are well rested coming into this game and they’ll need it if they plan on keeping up with these high flying Flames. They struck some gold in their second game of the season by scoring 4 times, but they were shut down by Winnipeg in their season opener, only scoring once.

The St. Louis PK is 9th in the league, killing penalties at an 80% clip. They’ve taken 10 penalties in their 2 games, yet yielded only 2 goals. That number could balloon as the Flames PP has been gaining some steam lately. The line of Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm and Mark Giordano is creating some issues for opposing PK units as of late.

What’s Happening With The Opposition?

St. Louis Blues Coverage: St. Louis Game Time

Last Time Out

Calgary Flames 3 Nashville Predators 0 (Recap)

St. Louis Blues 4 Chicago Blackhawks 5 (OT) (Recap)

Players To Watch

Calgary Flames: Sean Monahan (C)

All Sean Monahan has done is score a goal in every Flames game so far this season. Monahan appears to be totally healthy and he’s putting pucks in the net from his favorite spot on the ice. His 4 goals on the season have him tied for 4th in the league with Evander Kane.

St. Louis Blues: Vladimir Tarasenko (C)

Tarasenko, the Blues for that matter, struggled in their season opener, only scoring one goal. That changed for both in Saturday’s contest against the Blackhawks. The Russian native scored his first two goals of the season and if Tarasenko gets hot the Blues could go on quite a run. The prolific scorer has struggled against the Flames, scoring only 5 goals in 18 career games against Calgary.

by Mark Parkinson