:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49082717/usa-today-9186053.0.jpg)
Blues Lineup -
Blues Forwards: Jaden Schwartz/Jori Lehtera/Vladimir Tarasenko...Robby Fabbri/Paul Stastny/Troy Brouwer...Boat Anchor, er sorry, Magnus Paajarvi/David Backes/Patrik Berglund...Scottie Upshall/Kyle Brodziak/Ryan Reaves
Defensive Pairings: Jay Bouwmeester/Alex Pietrangelo...Carl Gunnarsson/Kevin Shattenkirk...Joel Edmundson/Colton Parayko. In net would be Jake Allen.
Game Highlights -
The start of tonight's game was very...different. The Flames would break the 0-0 tie on what was just a weird goal. It would take a funny hop off of the boards right out in front of the Blues net. Joe Colborne would be there to collect the puck and give the Flames a 1-0 lead.
Nine seconds later, Scottie Upshall would take advantage of a Colton Parayko dump in and rifle it past Flames goalie Joni Ortio to tie the game at one.
Upshall gets his sixth goal of the year with the aforementioned Parayko(21) and Reaves(1) getting the helpers on the play. The Blues wouldn't be done just yet in the first. Paul Stastny would take advantage of bad hop (or good if you're the Blues) off of the ref's skate and backhand it in the net for the 2-1 Blues lead.
Brouwer(14) and Fabbri(18) and the ref(1) would get assists on Stastny's eighth goal of the year. The Flames would tie it before the end of the period. The Blues would give up a shorthanded goal to Michael Frolik that would tie the game at two.
Moving forward to the second period unlike the Blues...The first of the three Flames goals in the period would come from Sean Monahan after a Blues turnover in their own end. That results in this:
The second goal (which was challenged for goal tender interference) would stand after Colborne was close to being up in Jake Allen's Koolaid. Not close enough and the Mark Giordano goal would stand giving the Flames a two goal lead, 4-2.
This would also spell the end of Allen's night. That's right the only trade acquisition Anders Nilsson would make his debut in net. Sean Monahan doesn't really care who is in net as he would tally his second goal of the period off of a seeing eye pass from Dougie Hamilton and beat Nilsson for the 5-2 Flames lead.
The Blues would seemingly score a goal at the end of the second, but was waived off because of goal tender interference. Backes was cross checked into the goalie which would negate said interference, but since the Blues challenged earlier, they couldn't do it again. It felt like that should have been a goal.
Kevin Shattenkirk would leave little doubt that this was or wasn't a goal. On the Blues powerplay early in the third, he would score off a beautiful pass from Schwartz to make it 5-3.
Shatty gets goal number 13 on the year with Schwartz(12) and Lehtera(21) getting assists on the play that gives the Blues a little bit of life. The Blues would add another one with about six minutes left in the third. Paul Stastny would score goal number two off a feed from Magnus Paajarvi. Because of course.
Stastny gets his ninth goal of the year. Paajarvi gets assist number five and Brouwer(15) would get one as well.
Late in the third, with the Blues on the powerplay, they have a chance to tie the game and...
Just kidding! The Blues give up the second short handed goal of the night, and go back down by two with the score 6-4. Calgary would score an empty netter to seal the 7-4 win.
From The Twitter Machine:
The Blues have a losing record with 56 in the lineup:
Now 20-22 (not sure how many are OTL/SOL). Not to alarm you all, but that’s a losing record. #StLBlues https://t.co/9m6Y6ZxSew
— Tylo Ren (@KingDonutI) March 15, 2016
David Backes gives his thoughts on the game, to include thoughts on the cross check:
Backes weighs in on the Blues' disallowed goal in tonight's postgame interviews. WATCH: https://t.co/GDEqr4BYbz pic.twitter.com/BXI7etiKLB
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 15, 2016
Hitch wasn't pleased with the goalie interference calls tonight:
Hitch: "I'm completely confused on both calls. Someone needs to maybe sometime tomorrow explain to all of us the two calls. (1/3)
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 15, 2016
Hitch cont'd: "I think we need an explanation so that we can get clearance on what's a goal and what's not a goal. The call on the ... (2/3)
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 15, 2016
"it's pretty easy for us because we're standing on the bench & there's a TV below my feet. We looked at it 3 times. The one on Backes wow!"
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 15, 2016
And finally, and because we all need a laugh after that...uh whatever it was.
This is one way to pass the time until the morning skate begins... #stlblueshttps://t.co/42PtqVEHO2
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 14, 2016
Three Stars:
Third Star: Michael Frolik (3 goals. Two shorthanded breakaways and an empty netter. Really?)
Second Star: Dougie Hamilton (3 assists. Has parents that named him Dougie)
First Star: Sean Monahan (2 goals, 1 assist. Boring Monahan on Twitter is actually funny)