ST. LOUIS – Turning the page was key for the St. Louis Blues [http://thn.com/stlouis]. Their loss on Saturday [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/observations-from-blues-4-3-overtime-loss-vs-kraken]wasn’t something they were happy about with the way regulation ended, but nothing they could do about a judgmental decision made by the league and the officials on the ice that night could change anything. The Blues came back and despite jumping out to a three-goal lead, needed to thwart off a feisty Calgary Flames [http://thn.com/calgary] side in a 3-2 win at Enterprise Center on Tuesday. The Blues (6-8-3) were able to get contributions from some unsung heroes, including Nathan Walker and Matthew Kessel scoring goals, along with Dylan Holloway for the second straight game. Oskar Sundqvist had two assists in his return to the lineup after being healthy-scratched the past two games. And on a night in which he broke the franchise record for most games played among goalies (348), Jordan Binnington was terrific with a 38-save effort. Let’s take a look at Tuesday’s observations: * Fourth line comes through – Walker, Sundqvist and Alexey Toropchenko were supposed to be a trio to start the season together and build a line filled with identity. After Radek Faksa’s departure, one of the looming questions was who would step into Faksa’s role between Toropchenko and Walker? Sundqvist filled in admirably on Tuesday with a pair of assists and effective in a number of areas on the ice. “Energy, momentum, details, habits,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of what the line brings. “Obviously the two goals are nice, but just the trust that they’re going to get the job done because they don’t take the easy way out. They gain lines, they take hits to make plays. When that happens, it builds momentum on our team because our team sees the effort, the second- and third-effort. We get the power-play goal because of 26’s effort on the second and third effort on the puck draws the penalty.” Walker drew a hustle tripping penalty on Calgary’s Samuel Honzek, and Holloway cashed in with a tip goal of Justin Faulk’s wrister from the point at 10:59 of the first to make it 1-0: Walker then scored what amounted to be the game-winner when he crashed the net with Calgary defenseman Joel Hanley and collected the loose change and deposit a backhand into an empty cage at 7:20 of the second period for a 3-0 lead: “'Sunny' just made a great heads-up play,” Walker said. “He knows ‘Torpo's flying there. I'm just trying to clean up the garbage that was left in front.” There was some question whether the Flames would challenge for goalie interference. It had to feel good for Walker since he iced the puck before the goal sequence by missing Toropchenko on a stretch pass. “I thought ‘Torp’ was going one way, he was going the other,” Walker said. “That’s on me. Obviously to get the goal after that’s always going to feel nice.” Toropchenko played 14:08, Sundqvist 13:55 and Walker 13:35; they were the only plus players for the Blues on the night, each being a plus-1. And as usual, Walker led the Blues in hits with six. “I don’t think you can measure how much they can help us because everybody sees what they do and they do it the right way,” Montgomery said. “They don’t cheat the game at all. It’s infectious, and then everybody starts playing the right way, everybody’s on the right side of the puck. In the second period when they started getting back into it, some of it was puck decision, some of it was we’re on the wrong side of pucks, so we gave them a little bit of life.” “If we can bring the energy every game and do what we have to do on the forecheck and in the D-zone and sprinkle in some goals here and there, it’s going to help us in the long run,” Walker said. * Sundqvist responds to being scratched – Not only did Sundqvist pick up assists on Walker’s goal but Kessel’s to make it 2-0, he did so after being a healthy scratch the past two games. That makes three Blues now that responded the right way after being scratched the previous game. Mathieu Joseph, who missed the game Tuesday with a lower-body injury, had a goal and two assists in last Thursday’s 3-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres [http://thn.com/buffalo], but Jordan Kyrou responded with a goal on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken [http://thn.com/seattle], a goal that appeared was going to stand up as the winning goal. “I think like I said a couple weeks ago he's like my binky,” Montgomery said of Sundqvist. “He's someone I can trust in every situation. We all go through patches where we're not on top of our game. I loved the way he responded. True pro.” * Kessel’s second NHL goal sets tone for his game – Matthew Kessel no doubt had to bide his time. The defenseman hasn’t had much playing time this season, and when he does get into a game – he’s played in eight now – the ice time is limited playing on the third defensive pair. But his beauty of a goal on a rush play up the right side at 13:43 of the first period enabled the Blues to jump to a 2-0 lead: “That one felt good,” Kessel said. “It's obviously been a while since scoring up here, but that one felt great for sure. Just jumped up. 'Sunny' was able to hit me there. They were not on me much. I was able to kind of spring loose a little bit, had a good amount of space on that right side there. I was able to settle it and saw a little bit of the left side open there. So I just shot it.” Montgomery has been looking for Kessel to be more assertive standing players up at the defensive blue line and killing plays with his stick there. He did a nice job of it Tuesday and finished with 11:41 time on ice. “He did it early and he did it late in the third as well,” Montgomery said. “Yes, he’s doing those things. We need to as a team be a little better and a little firmer, I’m just talking defensemen. We call it getting skin. People got to pay a price to gain the line and you want to body speed at lines. “I thought he was very assertive tonight, especially in the D-zone and offensive zone. He was physical and was noticeable, his stick was very active killing plays. The goal was nice, but just more his assertiveness and aggressiveness, skating pucks out of trouble in the D-zone, carrying it in the middle of the ice getting it in so we can get on the forecheck instead of just looking to pass. You can just see his confidence growing in those areas.” “I’m liking where my game’s headed,” Kessel said. “Even when I wasn’t playing, I was trying to get better every day, every practice and improve in the games I got in. I think that’s still my goal now. Obviously keep building on my game. I like where it’s at right now. Just keep going day by day, keep building, keep going here. We’re building some good things. I think we’ve been playing pretty well recently and just keep at that.” * Move over Liut and pass the torch – Binnington knew this day would come eventually. When he passed Liut’s record for most wins by a Blues goalie, there would come a time when the games played record (347) would fall as well. That number fell on Tuesday, and in Binnington style, he did it with a win and did it with flare. “Maybe I'll send him a text tonight just for fun, but it's cool how it's working out like this,” Binnington said of Liut, his agent. “Obviously he's a big legend here, he's in the Blues Hall of Fame, someone I look up to and has been a big part of my career so far. “I’m truly honored and humbled. I feel like we’ve had some good teams here, some good players here and me personally, I’ve just kept my head down and just keep getting up and doing my best whatever I’ve got at the time. It’s cool moments like these to have a night like this where we got a big win, a much-needed win. I feel like we played a really good game. It’s good timing for us as we have a little homestand here and building our game and building momentum moving forward. It’s special and I’m very honored.” There’s an adage when it comes to Binnington: the more shots he faces, the better he seems to be and the more locked in he is. There were a number of solid saves, including a shorthanded breakaway save on Jonathan Huberdeau in the second period and net front traffic saves when the Flames pushed in the third period for the equalizer. Calgary had 30 shots over the final two periods. “I feel like they were throwing a lot at the net,” Binnington said. ‘As a goalie, sometimes you like that just to feel the puck and stay in the game. Giving up two late in the second was not what we were looking for. We came in here and we regrouped and we found a way to get it done. We had good chances, their goalie played well too. I think it’s good to see our game come along.” When the game was on the line, No. 50 was up to the task. “He’s a big part of every night, right,” Walker said. “He’s our backbone back there and obviously very happy with him tonight.” * Blues hit with in-game adversity, handle it well – When Montgomery called a time out at the 14:27 mark of the second period after Matt Coronato and Rasmus Andersson scored 23 seconds apart to reduce a 3-0 Blues lead to one at 3-2, they were able to close out the period without further damage and were not playing flustered. “I really enjoyed our response. It’s what you want,” Montgomery said. ‘You want to go back, take control the momentum of the game. I went down to three lines and the three lines responded. They built momentum heading into the third.” * Goalie interference could have been changing point – The Blues thought they had scored an insurance goal early in the third period that would have made it a 4-2 game, and despite replays showing a puck was loose and ultimately trickling into the net, officials on the ice called no goal due to goalie interference. As if that hasn’t been controversial enough around here after dealing with one that went against them in the waning seconds of regulation before falling 4-3 in overtime to the Seattle Kraken. Montgomery was not about to challenge something after what the Blues went through Saturday, feeling no conviction this time as much as the coaching staff did on Saturday. “We just felt that it wasn't dead wrong,” Montgomery said. “You'd like to be able to challenge it, but it's not worth the risk because he pushed the defenseman into the goalie, which they can say that's why they call it goalie interference. It's not dead wrong.” Walker slid into the crease area with a Calgary defenseman after Kessel’s wraparound attempt. Replay showed the puck was never covered, but there was contact with the goalie. “I don’t really know,” Walker said. “They obviously look at it enough to know what’s a goal and what’s not a goal. You just have to live with their decision.” * Key shot blocks – The Blues are certainly committed to doing their part to keeping pucks away from their goalies these days. They blocked 18 shots, with Colton Parayko leading the way with eight, but it was Walker’s key block with 5.8 seconds remaining in regulation on MacKenzie Weegar that helped preserve a win this time around. “I think our team’s been very committed here in the last seven games to blocking shots, and it’s not just Walker,” Montgomery said. ‘We’ve seen (Jordan) Kyrou blocking shots, Holloway had three, Holloway had two last game after taking one in the ribs from Parayko at the net front. To me, I love we’re our team’s building that way. “I think what I really liked about our team was our composure in the third, being up 3-2, we didn’t panic, we had a lot of poise. We had several odd-man rushes again because we’re being patient. We’re on the right side of pucks. With those odd-man rushes with the talent that we have, we’re going to put games away by playing the right way like we did in the third with the lead.” It spoke volumes to the game that Montgomery had his fourth-line guys on the ice with the game on the line. “That feels good,” Walker said. “You obviously want to be out there and help the team win when you can. To have that trust from the coach definitely feels nice. “I obviously know (Weegar’s) a shooter, he’s got a big shot. You’ve got to eat one for the team and you’ve got to get one for the win there. That’s pretty much it.” * Closing out a game this time around – Something they couldn’t do on Saturday, the Blues were in another tough one this time. The Flames peppered Binnington with 167 third-period shots, but the goalie was up to the challenge of all of them, even the scrambly moments that could have been fatal. “I’m having fun,” Binnington said. “Got to play for the love of the game at this point and remember why you started and just enjoy these moments because they’re special trying to close out a game at home. You feel the crowd, you’re out there battling with the guys, Walks is blocking a full one-timer, sticking out his foot with however many seconds left. It’s something I feel like it’s good to enjoy these moments and be in the present. That’s where my head’s at and I feel like we did a good job in staying with it and sticking to our game plan. That’s a good two points.” * Needing to do better job separating from opponents – This was the third straight game in which the Blues led 2-0. They closed the game out against the Sabres last Thursday; Saturday, they failed to close out, allowing a 2-0 game turn to 2-2 after two. The Flames didn’t catch the Blues on Tuesday, but at 3-0, the Blues had multiple opportunities to widen the gap and run away and hide in this one, only to see the Flames get into it and make a track meet a one-shot game. And Montgomery wasn’t expecting this to be a track meet. “No, especially with the two teams that are involved,” he said. “We do have to do a better with the job with the puck offensively. I thought we had too many hope plays. We need to start just wearing people down, especially when you’re up 2-0, just wear people down. They’re the ones that have to force the offense, not us. And again, that’s just us maturing as a team throughout the season, finding our identity and we’re still not there yet obviously. We’ve got a lot of room for growth, which is a good thing.”
