It was a pretty even game if you base that opinion on the box score. But the stats didn’t represent the game accurately. The Blues outshot the Flames 20-19 but St. Louis controlled most of the game.
Sven Baerstchi scored the lone goal for the Flames in the 4-1 loss Thursday night. Jiri Hudler had the only other point for Calgary, assiting on Baertschi’s goal.
St. Louis’ Ryan Reaves scored twice, was +2 on the night and fought Tim Jackman in an unexpected tilt. Halfway through the the third period Jackman was forechecking when he bumped down by a Blues player accidentally. Jackman got up and stormed at Reaves and connected with a couple punches before Reaves even dropped his stick. Reaves wasn’t even the guy who knocked Jackman down! In a good, but quick tilt, Reaves came out on top after connecting with a few solid blows. As a result, Jackman received a fighting major, instigating minor and a ten-minute misconduct. Another Flame’ got feisty tonight but it wasn’t someone a fan would expect. Mike Cammalleri dropped the gloves with Kris Russell late in the first period. While it did feature mostly dancing, it was a pretty even bout that resulted in Cammalleri coming out on top.
MacDonald didn’t play too terrific as predicted and only saved 16 out of 20 shots the Blues tested him with.
Just one more game left in the 2012-13 season for the Flames. Calgary will travel to Chicago and take on the Blackhawks in the season finale Friday night at 6:30 PM MT. Can we just chalk that one up as an ‘L’?
With the loss the Flames record decreases to 19-24-4 and has accumulated 42 points. That puts Calgary in 23rd place in the league tied with Carolina. Tampa Bay (40 pts, 1 game left), Nashville (41 pts, 1 game left) and Edmonton (41 pts, 2 games left) can all catch the Flames. Hopefully those teams win their final games of the season so Calgary can get a higher draft pick pending the lottery of course.