TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES Ville Husso turned aside 38 shots - including 20 in the first period - to earn his fifth straight win in Sunday's 3-1 victory in Vancouver.
In that span, Husso has a 1.20 goals-against average and a .963 save-percentage.
"I think Husso was amazing tonight," Vladimir Tarasenko said after the game. "When somebody plays well, it always gives teammates positive emotions, but especially when a goalie is making these performances like almost every night."
The Blues are 2-0 on their road trip to the Pacific Northwest. They will wrap the three-game swing on Monday night in Calgary before returning home for two games before the NHL All-Star break.
The Blues have won six of their last seven games and are in second place in the Central Division, just four points behind the first-place Colorado Avalanche.
FLAMES The Calgary Flames dropped a 5-3 decision to the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night despite firing 47 shots on goal. Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl scored two goals and two assists in the contest to help the Oilers to their first win in eight games.
For Calgary, it was their fifth loss in the last six games.
St. Louis native Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist in the loss.
"We did some good things, but ultimately, not enough good things," Tkachuk said after the game.
Monday's matchup will be the Blues' first meeting with the Flames since Darryl Sutter returned to the Calgary bench. Sutter, who previously coached the Flames from 2002-06 and served as the team's general manager from 2003-10, was re-hired by the organization in March 2021. Darryl's brother, Brian, has his No. 8 in the rafters in St. Louis.
Calgary is currently fifth in the Pacific Division with an 18-12-6 record (42 points). The Flames are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues have won four straight games in Calgary and are 5-1-0 in their last six games overall against the Flames.
Monday's game will be the first meeting between the teams since Jan. 28, 2020 when the Blues took a 5-4 shootout win at the Saddledome.
The teams will meet again Thursday at Enterprise Center.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Justin Faulk, who scored with a beautiful deflection to get the Blues on the board on Sunday. Faulk has posted a plus or even rating in 16 straight games, earning a plus-18 rating in that stretch. He ranks third in the NHL amongst defensemen with a plus-25 mark for the season.
FLAMES Noah Hanifin, who had a goal and two assists against the Oilers. The 24-year-old defenseman has 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 35 games this season.
BLUE NOTES
Brayden Schenn has six points (four goals, two assists) in his last three games… Vladimir Tarasenko has recorded points in nine consecutive games played (six goals, nine assists)… The Blues rank second in the League on the power-play with a 29.4 percent success rate… The Blues lead the League with 14 wins when giving up the first goal.
In so many ways, the Calgary Flames are on the right track. Despite having only one win in their last six games - with the latest defeat Saturday's 5-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers - the Flames head into Monday's home clash with the St. Louis Blues believing they are about to turn the corner.
The Flames did many things necessary to win against Edmonton. They took an early lead, although it was lost because of a pair of Oilers power-play goals, and then dominated the third period with the score tied, only to surrender the game-winning goal on the rare opportunity allowed.
Not many times will a team outshoot the opposition 47-31 in the game, and 17-6 in the third period, yet lose, so the Flames truly have reason to believe better days lay ahead.
"We've gone through some stretches where we've lost maybe some details in our game, but I've thought we've really been working hard in getting that back in our game, and I think we're trending in a good way," defenseman Oliver Kylington said.
For a team that's in a 3-8-1 stretch, even a loss can be a turning point.
"I didn't feel like we took a step back," coach Darryl Sutter said, alluding to his team's victory over the Florida Panthers in their previous outing. "But we didn't get any points, so it doesn't feel like we took a step ahead."
The Flames certainly have the opportunity to right the ship. Starting with Monday's game, against a Blues team that played Sunday night in Vancouver, the Flames play four games in six days and six games in 10 days before the All-Star break.
"Obviously, we have games in hand," noted defenseman Chris Tanev. "But they don't mean anything unless you win them."
The Blues arrive on a roll that has sent them up the standings. A 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday has them riding a three-game winning streak, boasting six victories in their last seven outings and on a 13-3-1 run as they reached the season's midway point.
The victory in Vancouver marked the 15th time this season that the Blues have won despite trailing.
"Our guys, they get scored on, they just keep playing. They don't panic," coach Craig Berube said. "There's a lot of trust in that room with each other."
Goaltender Ville Husso is earning the spotlight of late. Husso made 38 saves in Sunday's victory, and has posted victories in five consecutive starts, in which he's stopped 154 of 160 shots. However, being the second half of games on consecutive nights in a different province, Jordan Binnington is expected to start in goal.
Husso isn't the only one at the top of his game. Forward Brayden Schenn is riding a three-game goal-scoring streak and has six points (4-2-6) in those games, while Vladimir Tarasenko has points in nine consecutive games played.
The twist is that Tarasenko has nine assists in that span, giving him 24 on the season. It's a change for a player known more for his goal-scoring abilities.
"The guys are just scoring more on my plays," he said with a laugh. "I want to score ... it's what I'm supposed to do. The guys are creating chances, but sometimes the puck doesn't go in. It sometimes makes other guys available if the teams are over-playing you."
