Hopefully, the Calgary Flames were able snap some good photos of the iconic Gateway Arch.
Otherwise, they didn’t accomplish much during their three-day stay in St. Louis.
The Blues completed a sweep of this rare regular-season double, rolling Thursday to a 4-1 victory in the rematch at Enterprise Center.
As Calgary’s captain, Mikael Backlund, summed up: “At the end of the day, these two games weren’t good enough from our team.”
After a miserable time in Missouri, which also included Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat, the Flames are now only one point ahead of the Blues in the Western Conference standings.
Here are three takeaways from the second of these back-to-back losses …
WAKEY, WAKEY
If the Blues pass and eventually pull away from the Flames in the wildcard race, this will go down as a what-if? week.
What if, for example, they didn’t try to sleepwalk through Thursday’s opening frame? What if, after talking up the importance of being good from the git-go, they weren’t the exact opposite in digging a 3-0 deficit through 20 minutes?
“I think they were just hungrier than us,” Backlund told reporters at Enterprise Center. “They came out and were more desperate and wanted to win, and we were flat and not ready to go. I think it was just mental preparation. They were ready. Unfortunately, we weren’t.”
During that stinker of a start, the Flames were out-shot by a count of 15-7 and credited with just one high-danger scoring opportunity.
However you measure the rest of the night, it was already over.
“Obviously, this was not the way we wanted to start the game,” fumed Flames general manager Craig Conroy, who happened to be booked for a first-intermission interview on Sportsnet. “It’s a huge game. They came out like a playoff game, and we kind of dipped our toe in the water. Not good enough.”
Added head coach Ryan Huska in his post-game scrum: “When you look at our team this year, there’s not a lot of first periods that you can say we haven’t been very good. It does happen, but my issue with tonight is these are games that you want to be at your very best, and I don’t think we were early enough.”
ANATOMY OF A BAD GOAL
Dustin Wolf hasn’t allowed a lot of softies this season, but Colton Parayko’s first-period goal was definitely a groaner.
That low slapper seemed to slip under Wolf’s pads. With no traffic out front, the rookie netminder couldn’t complain about a screen.
The 23-year-old Wolf will be ticked that he didn’t come up with that routine save, especially with his team already trailing by one in a tough road barn, but there was plenty of blame to go around.
Kevin Bahl botched a clearing attempt at the start of that sequence. Bahl, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri all lost battles along the boards as the Flames tried to reclaim possession.
When the puck was worked back to Cam Fowler at the top of the circle, Martin Pospisil whiffed on a stick-check and was too easy to step around.
Fowler then dished a pass to a wide-open Parayko. Huberdeau should have been manning that point, but he’d wandered from his position as he tried to help in the high slot.
It wasn’t all on Wolf, who shrugged off that dud and delivered some clutch saves in the second and third. He finished with 25 stops.
“I thought he battled,” Huska said of Wolf. “There was some goals that I think he’d probably like to have back, and it’s going to happen for a young guy. But I think the one thing we would look for is how he responds, and I thought he did a pretty good job the rest of the way of making some saves and staying competitive for us.”
PELLETIER A POSITIVE
Jakob Pelletier has been a bright spot for the Flames on this road-trip.
He notched a couple of career-firsts — a multi-goal night and a three-point performance —during Monday’s blowout win in Chicago.
On Calgary’s lone marker Thursday, he did the dirty work down low before a heads-up pass to Yegor Sharangovich, who beat Joel Hofer with a blocker-side shot.
Rory Kerins also earned an assist, maintaining a point-per-game clip in his three NHL appearances so far.
It seems like the arrival of Kerins is bringing out the best in Pelletier. These guys were linemates with the Wranglers in the fall, and there is still some chemistry there. More importantly, the 23-year-old Pelletier looks to be determined to lead by example now that he’s not the least experienced dude on his forward unit.
Question is, will Huska leave this trio intact or is it possible that Kerins could get a look at centre as the Flames wrap this roadie Saturday in Winnipeg?
Fourth-line pivot Kevin Rooney was on the ice for three of the Blues’ buries on Thursday, two of those at even-strength and the other while shorthanded.
Rooney logged 11 seconds of action in the third, and that’s only because Huska sent him to serve Brayden Pachal’s extra minor after his late fight with Nathan Walker.
Since Rooney is usually a regular on the penalty-kill, that’s a blunt message from the boss.