Jordan Kyrou scored twice on Friday as the St. Louis Blues made it three straight wins with a 5-2 victory over the Calgary Flames.
Ivan Barbashev and Pavel Buchnevich had two-point games for St. Louis (15-15-1) with a goal and assist each. Brandon Saad also scored.
Connor Mackey scored both goals for Calgary (13-12-6), which is winless in its last five (0-2-3) and received boos from the home crowd at the final buzzer. Dillon Dube and Elias Lindholm each had two assists.
READ MORE: Kuzmenko, Martin lead Canucks to 4-3 shootout win over Calgary Flames
Thomas Greiss made 40 saves to win his fourth game in his last five starts for the Blues. He is 4-4-0 on the season.
On the other end, Jacob Markstrom had 18 stops. His record falls to 8-8-4.
Calgary Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom makes a save against St. Louis Blues’ Robert Thomas during first period NHL hockey action in Calgary, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Larry MacDougal
With a 1-1 draw after 20 minutes, St. Louis took its second lead at 3:08 of the second on the power play.
Just seconds after Dube and Andrew Mangiapane failed to get a shot on goal during a dangerous two-on-one rush, St. Louis came up the ice with a three-way pass sequence that was cut short by Kyrou, who hit a shot over Markstrom’s. shoulder for his 12th goal of the season.
Up 2-1 in the third, St. Louis took a two-goal lead at 3:46 when a lapse in defensive coverage gave Buchnevich an unobstructed path to the net and he fired a shot inside the goal post.
The Flames got back into the game briefly when Mackey scored his second of the night at 7:40, beating Greiss over his glove after being set up by Dube.
St. Louis restored its two-goal advantage just 78 seconds later thanks to a poor turnover by Mackey, who flicked the puck from behind the net into the center where it was intercepted by Saad, who took advantage and scored his seventh of the season .
A minute later it was Kyrou again, this time his shot deflected off the skate of Flames defenseman Mackenzie Weegar.
The goal was Kyrou’s team-leading 13th of the year.
A key moment in the game came in the second period with the Blues leading 2-1. Three straight St. Louis penalties put the Flames on the power play for nearly six straight minutes — including a 22-second two-man advantage — but against the league’s worst penalty kill, Calgary couldn’t create any dangerous chances.
Not only is St. Louis’ penalty kill isn’t the worst in the league, entering the game at 67.1 percent, it will go down as the worst in NHL history if they finish the season like this. The 1979-80 LA Kings own the worst PK of all time at 68.2 percent.
The Flames were 0-for-3 with the man advantage on Friday, while the Blues went 1-for-2.
St. Louis opened the scoring 4:07 into the game, capitalizing on a turnover in the offensive zone by Elias Lindholm that led to a 2-on-1 with Robert Thomas and Barbashev, who returned the pass for just his second goal buried. in his last 16 games.
Calgary tied it 1-1 at 16:01 of the first when Dube’s shot deflected off Mackey.
The assist gives Dube nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his last 10 games, which tops the team.
Dube was on a new line for the game with Darryl Sutter rotating his top six left wings. Dube joined Lindholm and Tyler Toffoli and Jonathan Huberdeau dropped to play alongside Nazem Kadri and Mangiapane.
The Flames continue to struggle head to head against St. Louis, who are 7-1-0 in their last eight meetings. The Blues have enjoyed their visits to southern Alberta, winning five of their last six games in Calgary.
Mackey’s two goals were the second and third of his career, but first in front of a crowd, as his only other came in the final game of the 2020-21 season in an empty Saddledome due to COVID restrictions. Connor’s father, Dave, spent his final three NHL seasons with the Blues from 1991 to 1994.
The Flames begin a four-game California road trip with the first of two straight games against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
