ST. LOUIS – It’s one game, but the St. Louis Blues had to have it.
At least for one game, they backed it up after a disappointing loss on Saturday.
Radek Faksa’s tip goal midway through the third period was the difference, and the Blues recovered to hold off the Calgary Flames, winning 2-1 at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.
The Blues (21-20-4), who host the Flames (21-15-7) again on Thursday, were five points back and knew going in that they had to chase down Calgary and not give points away to remain relevant in the chase for the Western Conference playoffs.
Calgary held down the final wild card going into the game and had a five-point advantage on the Blues with two games in hand.
“It was a little playoff game for us,” Faksa said. “It feels good, but I feel like it was a whole team effort. Lots of guys did lots of good stuff. [Jordan Binnington] made lots of good saves, also good blocks in the end. It was a good performance by us.”
Colton Parayko scored, and Jordan Binnington made 26 saves to get the Blues within three points of the Flames.
“I think they know what’s at stake,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I think our urgency level can still come up. It’s going to have to. Calgary played last night. We were the fresher team. Thursday night is going to be harder and we’ve got to get ready for that.”
Let’s go to the Three Takeaways:
* Blues dug in – It’s getting to the point in the season where the Blues have to learn to win these types of games if they want to stay in this race and even grab a postseason spot.
They didn’t do it against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday but found a way on Tuesday.
In the final 1:20 alone when the Flames had Dan Vladar on the bench for an extra attacker, Jake Neighbours was on the ice blocking a shot by Yegor Sharangovich, then Binnington stopped Rasmus Andersson with 1:13 remaining, Cam Fowler came up with a block of a Sharangovich shot with 1:07 left, and Faksa had a block of his own of a Matt Coronato shot with 19 seconds to play to preserve the win.
Guys were sacrificing their bodies.
“It was really good. I thought guys sacrificed and I thought our sticks were really good all night,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “On the penalty kill, 5-on-5, in the D-zone. And I just liked the way we were able to win a 2-1 game, a low-scoring game because we had to play hard.”
The Flames were 0-for-2 on the power play and didn’t register a shot on goal. It was part of the Blues’ plan to limit the inner slot chances.
“I think we played a pretty good 60 minutes, obviously a close game,” Parayko said. “We knew it was going to be a tight one with standings and where everyone is. Kind of a mini playoff series, if you will. I thought we played a good game. Nice to win a close game. It was good.”
* Parayko was a beast – Parayko was all over the ice.
It was evident from the first minute when he put the Blues ahead 1-0 just 49 seconds in that he was going to be locked and loaded:
“Maybe pucks are coming to me at the right time, right areas,” Parayko said. “As a group of defensemen, I think we’re trying to play up more on their forwards in the O-zone. That’s kind of what just happened there. The puck came loose and found me. Trying to get pucks to the net, trying to hit the net. If not go in, rebound hopefully, create something for one of the guys.”
It was Parayko’s ninth goal of the season in his 45th game, and it puts him one away from matching his career-high done three times (2018-19, 2019-20 and 2023-24).
He’s obviously looking to shoot more pucks.
“I think so, yeah,” Parayko said. “Just trying to get myself in areas where I have shooting lanes and things like that. Definitely we’ve been working on that. Just trying to put myself in good spots and getting them off quick.”
Parayko played 25:35 and was a plus-1 with a game-tying and team-high four shots on goal, and a game-tying high of three blocks.
His puck retrievals were spot-on, his zone exits were mostly clean, and he utilized his body to keep Flames skaters away from the high danger areas of the ice.
“He was dominant. He was the best player on the ice,” Montgomery said of Parayko. “That’s what we need from him. That’s what he’s been giving us. He’s been excellent for the majority of the season.”
* Fourth line contributing – We know what the fourth line is supposed to bring: grit, forechecking, responsible defensively, physical, all the little things that contribute to wins.
But when they combination of Faksa, Alexey Toropchenko and tonight, Mathieu Joseph, also Nathan Walker, or whoever plays there, can add an element of scoring, it brings forth an element that’s a bonus to the Blues.
On what turned out to be the game-winner, Faksa deflected a puck in the neutral zone on a Calgary breakout, Toropchenko worked it into the zone along the right wall, turning it back to the point for defenseman Tyler Tucker, who wasted no time in sending it towards Faksa, who was parked in the slot, stick on the ice for the beautiful redirection over Vladar’s left shoulder:
“ It’s nice to contribute, especially in a big game like that,” Faksa said. “… I saw ‘Torpo,’ he kind of went into the zone. I kind of knew he would pass it back to the ‘D’ and I just stopped by the net. I got (a) big body and I’m supposed to be around the net. It was a good, quick shot. ‘Tucks’ didn’t hold onto it much. It was on and off. He give me some time to tip the puck and happy it went in.”
Tucker, who played 13:36, made a smart, heads-up play.
“I just tried to get it through the traffic and Faksa made a good tip,” Tucker said.
But Joseph, who took Walker’s spot in the lineup Tuesday, had some energy for the game after being a healthy scratch the past two games and five of the past seven games. He had a nice strip of the puck in the O-zone to keep a play alive and was responsible throughout the night.
“I thought he was on top of his game,” Montgomery said of Joseph, who was a plus-1 in 11:49. “I thought his second and third effort, his positional play. I thought he hung onto pucks well too in the offensive zone tonight. It was a real good game for him tonight.”
As for the line in general?
“I thought they were excellent all night,” Montgomery said. “I thought their work ethic, their second and third effort and then obviously, you could see that goal coming from them. Toropchenko had a couple chances and they were around the net. It was nice to see them get rewarded for all the hard work they give our team.”
