Husso makes 39 saves, Blues deal Flames their 3rd straight defeat

St. Louis is third in the Central Division, three points back of the second-place Minnesota Wild and four points up on the Nashville Predators.

Brett Ritchie, Johnny Gaudreau, Noah Hanifin and Dillon Dube scored for Calgary (40-19-9), which is winless in its last three. The Flames went 2-3-1 on their six-game homestand.

Jacob Markstrom made 19 stops for Calgary. His record fell to 31-14-8.

After a two-month stretch in which 21 of the Flames’ last 26 games have been at the Saddledome, the Flames leave Sunday on a four-game trip that begins in Los Angeles Monday. It will be their first road trip longer than a single game in two months.

The Kings, second in the Pacific Division, climbed within three points of the Flames, who hold three games in hand.

Tied 3-3, the go-ahead goal came at 18:04 when Thomas carried the puck into the Flames end along the side boards, stopped and curled back, and sent a pass to the slot where Walker fired in his seventh goal of the season.

Two empty-net goals and a late goal rounded out the scoring.

Down 3-2 after two periods despite owning a 28-10 edge in shots, Calgary kept pressing in the third, eventually tying it at 10:43 when Hanifin poked the puck into the net from a scramble in front.

But during that frenetic sequence, Ritchie ended up having his leg pinned underneath Blues defenceman Robert Bortuzzo, and he was down on the ice in obvious pain as the Flames celebrated the tying goal. He had to be helped off the ice.

After the teams split four goals in the opening period, the second period was scoreless until 13:35 when Faulk broke in undetected from the blue line and one-timed a set-up from David Perron.

Keeping the game close was Husso, who showed his athleticism early in the period going post to post to thwart Milan Lucic after he was set up by Ryan Carpenter. Lucic found himself on another two-on-one shortly after, but again was denied by Husso.

St. Louis opened the scoring 54 seconds into the game when Thomas deflected Faulk’s point shot out of mid-air and past Markstrom on the first shot of the game.

Calgary dug in after that though, piling up the next 10 shots on goal, one of them being Ritchie’s second goal of the season at 4:47.

Ritchie was not even supposed to play, but was inserted when Calle Jarnkrok, after taking warm-up, was ruled out with a non-COVID illness.

The Flames took their first lead at 12:49 when Gaudreau picked the top corner on a partial breakaway, but the Blues would tie it before the end of the period on the power play.

Brayden Schenn spotted O’Reilly in open ice and he quickly sent a perfect pass that was quickly off O’Reilly’s stick as he sent a shot inside the far goal post for his 16th goal.

NOTE: Centre Sean Monahan (hip surgery), who will miss the remainder of the season, and defenceman Oliver Kylington (undisclosed injury) also did not play. Centre Ryan Carpenter and defenceman Michael Stone drew into the line-up…. Blues centre Jordan Kyrou (illness) missed his third game. With Logan Brown also out with an illness, St. Louis went with 11 forwards and seven defencemen… The Blues are 14-3-3 against the Pacific Division.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 2, 2022.

The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Husso makes 39 saves, Blues deal Flames their 3rd straight defeat

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