Calgary, AB (SportsNetwork.com) - Jaroslav Halak posted 33 stops for his third
shutout of the season as the St. Louis Blues thumped the Calgary Flames, 5-0.
Vladimir Sobotka and Vladimir Tarasenko each had a goal and an assist, while
Chris Stewart, Alex Pietrangelo, and Ian Cole all scored for the Blues, who
have won a season-high seven straight.
"It's nice to string a couple together here," said St. Louis center David
Backes said. "It seems like you have to to stay paced with some of these other
teams in the West."
Karri Ramo was tagged for all five goals on 29 shots for the Flames, who have
lost six of seven and were shut out for a fifth game during that time.
"If we look at the past weeks there are some games that we got shutout and we
deserved to be shut out," said Calgary head coach Bob Hartley. "But this is
kind of a lingering effect on us and tonight I felt like we had quite a few
scoring chances. Grade A scoring chances between the hash marks and we even
fanned on some shots. So right now the net is awfully small for us. That's the
result of not scoring."
St. Louis got on the board halfway through the first period, as Derek Roy made
a move to get past the defender in the deep left boards then sent the puck to
Stewart, who one-timed it from the left circle for his 15th of the year.
Just over two minutes later, the Blues made it a 2-0 game as Sobotka skated in
down the right point and let fly with a wrister that beat Ramo cleanly.
It was a 3-0 game at 6:47 of the second as Tarasenko sent a pass from the
right circle to the left where Cole wristed it in for his second of the year.
The Blues scored a pair of power-play goals in the third to turn the game into
a rout.
Kevin Shattenkirk's slap shot from the left point tipped off of Pietrangelo's
stick in front at 1:16, and Tarasenko scored on a one-timer from the right
circle at 3:32.
Game Notes
St. Louis, which is 7-0-2 in its last nine road games, plays in Vancouver on
Friday ... Calgary has scored just five goals in its past seven games, four of
which came in a win against Colorado on Monday ... The Flames host the
Penguins on Saturday ... Halak has 28 shutouts in his career.