On Saturday afternoon, the Calgary Flames suited up for their home opener at the Scotiabank Saddledome against the St. Louis Blues. It would be the first time these two teams have matched up since the Blues took the final wild-card playoff spot from the Flames via a tiebreaker last season.
The Flames came into the game with a win and a loss through their first two games of the season, and the Blues came out hunting for their first victory after being shut out in their first game against the Minnesota Wild.
To add to the excitement in the Saddledome, the Flames had their top prospect, Zayne Parekh, in the lineup for the first time since scoring a goal in his NHL debut last season. It was his first time playing in front of the Calgary crowd.
Game Recap
To open the game, the two started with trading power-play opportunities within the first seven minutes. Combined, there were five opportunities on the man advantage in the first. The Flames opened the scoring on their second of three chances on the man advantage after Nazem Kadri found Joel Farabee, who fed Matthew Coronato to beat Joel Hofer for the lone goal of the period.
The Flames dominated the chances throughout the first half and began to do so again in the second. Tyler Tucker tried to change the momentum for the Blues, picking a fight with Ryan Lomberg. However, the Flames continued to press with several quality scoring chances throughout the first half of the second period. This included numerous Grade A chances for Samuel Honzek, who was hunting for his first career NHL goal, and a hit post by Parekh.
Hofer made multiple highlight saves through the first half of the second period to keep the Blues in the game until they finally found some offence 33 minutes in when Robert Thomas found Jake Neighbours alone in front of the net, who made a nice move in front to beat Wolf.
The goal sparked the Blues, and two minutes later on the power play, Thomas beat Wolf going bar down to take the 2-1 lead.
The lead did not last long, however, with Coronato getting loose on the rush 32 seconds later and depositing a bar-down shot of his own into the Blues’ net for his second of the game and to tie the game at two, which is where the second period finished.
Despite the shot attempts being 29-16 for the Flames in the second period, the Blues took control of the game with two goals in the third. Both coming on deflections, one from Neighbours, his second of the game, and the other from Pius Suter, his first with St. Louis. These goals gave the Blues a 4-2 lead with seven minutes to play.
The Blues went on to close out the 4-2 victory, holding off some late Flames pressure. The Blues took control of the game late, but without Hofer in the net, this game could have gotten out of control early.
These two teams will square off again in a month, on Nov. 11.
