Blues player of the game vs. Flames: Zack Bolduc

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues won their seventh game in the past nine on Thursday, 5-3 against the Calgary Flames, but in the words of interim coach Drew Bannister, "I thought we looked physically and mentally tired with some of the plays that we were making."

When the Blues (39-30-4) looked lethargic against a team that came in with four straight losses, there was one player that brought energy, brought the intensity and got the ball rolling with a beautiful backhand goal was Zack Bolduc.

Bolduc, who was the Blues' first-round pick in 2021, had 15:24 minutes of ice time  on Thursday and finished off a nice play by Alexey Toropchenko to make it 1-0 at 13:02 of the first period with two hits, a takeaway and a blocked shot in the game.

When the Blues ultimately ended up trailing 2-1 at the end of the first period, Bolduc had the motor going creating good, solid, sustained offensive zone shifts and nearly had a second goal from the high slot when he took a pass and let go his wrister just off the mark.

"You can see his confidence is coming," Blues forward Jake Neighbours, who had a goal and an assist, said of Bolduc. "He's starting to get more comfortable in the room and obviously at the speed of play the game's played at here. He looks good. He makes good plays, he's a strong skater. He's obviously got a great shot and he's a ball of energy too. He's always got a smile on his face and bringing energy to the rink. He's only going to become more comfortable. I remember it wasn't too long ago I was in his same shoes and somewhat I'm still trying to figure it out. It's a learning process; he's doing a great job of it.

"He can shoot. His release, how hard it is, usually pretty accurate. It's just about him getting spaces where he can get it off where guys can find him and he can be a shooter. You can tell tonight he was starting to find that a little bit more, get himself into areas where he can get the puck and get it on net. I thought he was good."