The Calgary Flames will immediately have a chance at revenge, a rarity in regular-season action.

After Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat in a tight-checking affair at Enterprise Center, the Flames will be sticking around St. Louis for Thursday’s rematch with the Blues.

“We’re going to try to split the series,” said Flames centre Nazem Kadri. “They did a great job earning their two points, but we’ll be ready to go next game.”

Kevin Bahl had the lone tally Tuesday for the Flames, who seemed to have plenty of energy but not much finish on the second half of a back-to-back set.

Calgary’s three-game win streak is now toast.   

They will have a day to recover — and maybe snap selfies at the Gateway Arch — before trying to even the score against the Blues.

Here are three takeaways from the opener of this double dip in the Show-Me State …

BLAME … BACKLUND?!?

Through his 1,000-plus career loggings in the Flaming C logo, this sort of sentence hasn’t appeared in many game recaps.

But there’s no sugarcoating that a turnover by Mikael Backlund was the difference in Tuesday’s tilt.

Yeah, you read that right. The typically trustworthy centre was guilty of the giveaway that led to Radek Faksa’s game-winning goal.

“I thought it had the makings of a good road game for us in a back-to-back situation,” Flames coach Ryan Huska told reporters at Enterprise Center. “We made a mistake with the puck in the third period leaving our zone and there was a turnover that they were able to capitalize on.

“I felt like the game was there to at least get ourselves into overtime. One mistake … Sometimes that’s the way it is in close games.”

Sure is, but it’s rare that Backlund is to blame.

Just five minutes after Bahl’s tying tally, Calgary’s captain tried to force a pass through the middle of the ice in the neutral zone, hoping to find a streaking Matt Coronato on the opposite side of the rink.

Trouble is, the puck was instead picked off by Faksa. Before the Flames could regain possession, Tyler Tucker fired from the blue-line and Dan Vladar was fooled by a crafty deflection.

Don’t be surprised if the 35-year-old Backlund, who is his own toughest critic, plays a whale of a game Thursday as he tries to make amends for that uncharacteristic screw-up.

VLADAR OUTDUELLED

One of the toughest assignments in a really tough league is the starting-goalie gig behind a tired team on the second half of a back-to-back set.

Vladar is now 1-4 in that scenario this season, and the consensus from his buddies is that he deserved a better fate Tuesday.

He made 23 saves in the visiting crease, none better than a blocker bail-out after Brayden Pachal was burned by Alexey Toropchenko early in the third.

Jordan Binnington made 26 stops for the Blues.

“Vladdy played unbelievable,” Bahl praised.

“Vladdy has been great. I wish we could put a couple more past for him,” agreed Kadri. “At the end of the day, the guy on the other side made some great saves. I think we probably should have had a few, but didn’t. I wish we could have got those for him.”

Those compliments from his teammates will likely be little consolation for Vladar, who is now 0-4-1 in his past five starts and has been watching more and more of Dustin Wolf. It’s been more than a month since No. 80 picked up his most recent W.

We know puck-stoppers are perfectionists, so Vladar will likely be ticked about the juicy rebound that resulted in Colton Parayko’s potting just 49 seconds after the opening faceoff.

“I thought he for sure got better as the game went on,” Huska said. “There was a stretch in the second period, it felt like about five minutes straight that we were in our zone and he made some saves at that point. And that’s what we need from him. It seems like when Dan is in net, we don’t get a lot of run support for him.”

NEED THE NEXT ONE

We realize it’s still mid-January, but Thursday’s rematch could have major playoff implications.

The Flames are sitting in the second wildcard slot in the Western Conference standings and arrived in St. Louis with an opportunity to really create some separation between themselves and the Blues.

Instead, a five-point gap has already been trimmed to three. The St. Loo crew would love to whittle it down to one.

“I think at five-on-five, we controlled a lot of the play and had a lot of great opportunities,” Kadri said, spinning positive after Tuesday’s defeat. “So I don’t think we have to change anything at all.”

The numbers at Natural Stat Trick tell a slightly different story.

They credited the Flames with only four high-danger scoring chances.

“I really felt it could have went either way,” said Bahl, arguably Calgary’s best-of-bunch thanks to his third-period goal and physical presence. “I think we have to play a pretty similar game (Thursday), but hopefully just a little more rested. Obviously that won’t be a back-to-back game, so a little more legs. So come out flying and hopefully we can get those two points.”

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