ST. LOUIS – One was good, but the St. Louis Blues needed another. And they got it. Heading into this rare two-game home set against the Calgary Flames, the Blues were five points out of the second wild card from the Western Conference. Blues set tempo in first period; Schenn line was dominant; power-play goal late in second stunted Calgary's surge A regulation win and loss would have meant a wash and two fewer games remaining on the schedule. Two regulation losses could have been catastrophic. The Blues set themselves up well with a narrow, hard-fought win on Tuesday. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/three-takeaways-from-blues-2-1-win-against-flames] They came out with meaning and purpose on Thursday and swept the set, winning 4-1 behind two goals from Brayden Schenn, two assists from Dylan Holloway, Colton Parayko scoring in his third straight game and Joel Hofer improved to 7-1-1 in his past nine starts with 29 saves. The Blues (22-20-4) are now right back in the thick of the playoff chase, trailing the Flames (21-16-7) by a point but Calgary has two games in hand and tied with the Vancouver Canucks in points (48) but the Canucks have two games in hand. “It was really important,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. ‘We needed to win both games to really get close. Now we’re one point behind them. They have two games in hand, but they’ve got to go win those games. We did what we needed to do in these two games, but most importantly, the way we played tonight, the way everybody in the lineup competed, especially in the first and third. I thought Calgary had a good push there in the first 15 minutes of the second, and then that power play goal was big at the end of the second.” Let’s go into the Three Takeaways: * Setting the tone in the first period with skating legs, checking – The Blues came out with a purpose in this game. There was no content with winning just the one game Tuesday, the Blues needed another regulation win to really start making this a crowded pack again and they did so by outshooting the Flames 15-7 and gaining a 3-0 lead. “Yeah, I thought we really played on our toes and we were checking,” Montgomery said. “I thought we came up with a lot of loose pucks and then when we got it, we made a lot of plays. I felt we could have had six or seven goals tonight with a lot of the looks that we had. Their goalie made some saves and they’re really committed to playing good defense and blocking shots.” Schenn said, “I think we realize where we're at. We're in a little better position than we were four days ago. You just keep getting the feeling of guys pumping each other up and playing for one another. When you creep up in the standings, it makes you play hard and this is the time of the year when you want to play meaningful hockey games. “This is four points that can give us a little bit of momentum for sure. We're going into two tough buildings -- one being Salt Lake where we're never been before, it's a tough place to play from what we here -- and Vegas. We've got to continue this onto the road.” * Schenn line dominant – Schenn, Holloway and Kyrou recently went on a heater with 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in a 10-game stretch. That line had been quiet the past two games with zero combined points, but really established itself as a dominant line in an important game with five points (three goals, two assists). Schenn opened the scoring at 4:55 of the first period when Holloway stripped MacKenzie Weegar behind the net, found Schenn to the left of the goal and the captain snapped one top shelf to Dustin Wolf’s glove side: “I take pride in being able to forecheck, hunt pucks, get pucks in the offensive zone and create chances for my linemates,” Holloway said. “They do a great job of that too, so I think the combination of all three of us doing that is why our line clicks.” After Parayko made it 2-0 at 13:53 … … Kyrou made it 3-0 at 15:40 when the Blues do a great job of keeping a play alive, starting with Tyler Tucker’s keep-in at the blue line, then Holloway draws a minor but sticks with the play to find Kyrou in the right circle for his 20th goal of the season: “Big games, we treated them like playoff games and we came out with a lot of intensity today,” Kyrou said. “Last game was a gutsy win by us -- a 2-1 win -- you've got to win those games. Tonight we came out hot and we played with the lead the whole game. “I think for us every game is kind of playoff game now. We're getting down to a big stretch here before the break. All of these games are huge.” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said, “I felt there was one team that had the urgency at the start of the game and one team didn’t. Unfortunately we were the team that didn’t tonight. “I was (surprised), but you could tell early on that they were the hungrier team. … We didn’t do a lot of great things in the first period.” * Crucial power play goal to offset Calgary surge, separate rest of game – The Flames came with a big push in the second period, something the Blues had to expect after dominating the way they did in the opening period. And the Flames certainly did that. When Yegor Sharangovich made it 3-1 at 11:14, there had to be some nervy moments. The Flames outshot the Blues 17-9 and gained a lot of territorial advantage throughout the period. But when Schenn scored at 17:39 to make it 4-1, getting a huge power play goal, it all but sealed the deal and Calgary had no more pushback after that point because the Blues managed the game properly the rest of the way: “I thought Calgary had a good push there in the first 15 minutes of the second,” Montgomery said, “and then that power play goal was big at the end of the second.” Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA5MjcwNjk1MDQ0MDY0NDYy/subscribe2024-front-banner.jpg]
