Perron, Blues beat Flames in shoot-out to end skid
CALGARY: David Perron and Ryan O’Reilly scored in a shoot-out, and the St Louis Blues earned their first shootout victory of the season in a wild 5-4 road win over the Calgary Flames.
The Blues, who lost their first three shoot-out games of the season, snapped a three-game overall losing streak in big part thanks to goaltender Jordan Binnington, who stopped 27 shots through regulation and overtime.
Calgary’s Sean Monahan hit the goal post with the first attempt in the shootout, and Binnington stopped Matthew Tkachuk’s backhand try.
An entertaining five-goal opening period set the tone for the night. After Alexander Steen put the Blues first on the board nearly six minutes into the game by burying a cross-ice pass from Robert Thomas, the Flames took their first lead of the night with a couple of power-play goals.
Tkachuk snapped a 10-game drought with a fluttering one-timer from the top of the right circle at 10:38 minutes, and then Monahan recorded his 400th career point — only the second player from the 2013 draft class to reach that mark — when he buried a shot from the slot at 15:43 minutes.
However, the Blues responded with a pair of goals 44 seconds apart before the intermission. First, Perron buried his second swipe at a rebound at 18:41 minutes, and then Jaden Schwartz, playing in his 500th career game, perfectly executed a redirection for a manadvantage marker.
The Flames regained the lead in the second period, though. Monahan netted his second goal of the night — and the team’s third power-play goal — at 4:40 minutes of the frame to tie the game 3-3. Then Mark Jankowski, who failed to score in his first 38 games of the season, potted his second goal in as many outings from the doorstep thanks to a feed from Sam Bennett at 9:47 minutes.
St Louis’ Zach Sanford evened the score at 4-4 just 51 seconds into the third period when he fired a top-corner shot during an odd-man rush.
In Buffalo, Tyler Ennis had a goal and an assist, and Craig Anderson stopped 28 shots to lead the visiting Ottawa Senators to a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Mike Reilly, Mark Borowiecki and Nikita Zaitsev also scored goals for Ottawa, who won for just the second time in their last 12 games (2-5-5).
Sam Reinhart and Jack Eichel scored for Buffalo.