The St. Louis Blues returned home to begin their seven-game homestand on Tuesday, kicking off with their game against the Calgary Flames. After defeating the Flames 5-2 earlier in the season, the two teams will play one another two times in three days. Despite being outshot 28-25 and recording a 42.05% Corsi For percentage, the home team managed to pull away with an overtime victory.
Thomas and Kyrou are the Comeback Kids
Now that two of the franchise’s top future stars have signed long-term contracts, the expectations have risen for the duo of Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou to show they are worthy of their paychecks. Like the rest of the team, both players had opportunities to capitalize on scoring chances through the first 40 minutes of play. Outside of their assists on the powerplay goal by Pavel Buchnevich in the first period, they were rendered ineffective offensively by the Flames’ defensive unit.
The two did not let their team down though once the game turned to the third period. Needing only 2:48, Nikita Alexandrov and Kyrou scored two quick goals to tie the game at three goals a piece. Their overtime two-on-one advantage saw Kyrou with a golden opportunity to take the shot himself, but defer to his teammate instead. After the game, Thomas was asked about their scoring chance and if he knew that Kyrou would pass to him. He said, “We kind of looked at each other going up the ice and I had a pretty good idea what he was planning on doing so great play by him.” Thomas’ 11th goal of the season moves him to fourth on the team in goals scored.
Binnington Solid Despite Defensive Lapses
Last night’s game against the Flames was a tale of two stories, the traditional stat line versus the advanced statistics when it came to the play of goaltender Jordan Binnington. After two periods of play, he allowed two goals that were ultimately little to no fault of his own. The first, a back-door pass by Flames forward Nazem Kadri to Milan Lucic, tied the game 1-1. Lucic’s goal saw little to no defensive effort and blown coverage by the team around him.
The second goal against Binnington is one that he likely never saw. With four bodies in front of him blocking his view, defenseman Nikita Zadorov was able to fire a quick shot from the blue line, allowing for a deflection in front of the goal by Mikael Backlund. Despite ending the game with a 3.22 goals against average (GAA), and .893 save…
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