Calgary Flames: Mikael Backlund’s two goals no match for Blues

On the one-year anniversary of the 3M line forming for the Calgary Flames, it was, unfortunately, no match for the tough St. Louis Blues.

The Calgary Flames attempted to make it five straight wins on the road tonight. And with Eddie Lack starting his first ever game in a Flames jersey, he was also hoping to make it a 7-0-0 career record against the St. Louis Blues. But the Blues had other ideas.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the 3M line forming. The line consisting of Matthew Tkachuk, Mikael Backlund, and Michael Frolik. Ironically enough, it was also against the Blues. And this would end up being one of the Flames best and their most consistent line throughout the season. As form fitting as it was, Mikael Backlund opened up the scoring early on with a quick wrist-shot.

But late in the first period, D Travis Hamonic had somewhat of a sloppy giveaway in their own zone and the Blues managed to tie up the game before the first intermission. For the most part, the Flames came out on top in the first period. They were the better team for the majority of the first twenty minutes and they outshot the Blues 12-8.

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Then the second period came and the Flames inability to remain out of the penalty box got the best of them. The Blues scored two goals on the powerplay, but at even-strength, the Flames were the better of the two teams. They yad 21 even-strength shot-attempts compared to the Blues 13. The Flames also had a powerplay earlier in the period, but it was no match for the Blues aggressive penalty-killing style.

Later in the period, Jake Allen went behind the net to play the puck. But I guess he didn’t get the memo that ice is kind of slippery. He lost his footing and Mikael Backlund made it a one-goal game and got his second goal of the night.

The third period then came, and while the Flames still had some chances, it was still no match for the Blues. The Calgary Flames remained at their two goals while the Blues scored another one late in the period and scored an empty-netter to end the game 5-2.

For the most part, it wasn’t that bad of a game by the Flames. At the end of the day, the Blues powerplay goals are what killed the Flames. And in the second game of a back-to-back, it somewhat caught up to them.

This team needs to find a way, to not only remain out of the penalty box, but they also need to find ways to score on the powerplay. They were 0/2 tonight and last night against the Nashville Predators, they were 0/4.

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They play again on Friday night where they’ll start a seven-game home stance – their longest of the season. Let’s hope they can start winning in front of their fans more often.