The St. Louis Blues struck for four first- period goals and rode that early surge to a 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome.
David Perron scored a pair of power-play goals for the Blues, who have won two straight on the heels of a five-game slide. Alexander Steen had a goal and two assists. Rookie Jake Allen made 30 saves, including an incredible stick stop in the opening period.
Dennis Wideman and Curtis Glencross supplied the goals for Calgary, which has dropped three of four.
Flames starting netminder Leland Irving was pulled 4:07 into the game after allowing two goals on four shots. Joey MacDonald, claimed off waivers from Detroit on Monday, finished with 18 saves in his Calgary debut.
Jaden Schwartz staked the Blues to a 1-0 lead 1:28 into the game. Steen kept the puck in at the blue line and fed Schwartz, who fired a backhander past Irving.
Schwartz then set up Patrik Berglund’s tally at the 4:07 mark after another failed clearing attempt.
Allen made a spectacular stop on T.J. Brodie midway through the first period. Brodie was going toward an open net after receiving a pass from Jiri Hudler. Allen somehow reached his stick across the net and in midair knocked the puck into his own glove.
“I saw the guy in the corner of my eye. In desperation I didn’t have much of a chance so I just threw my stick out there,” Allen said. “Fortunate enough for me, it hit it and it popped right up so I could catch it right away too, which is a big bonus.”
Calgary then expanded the lead when Steen found the back of the net at 13:49.
The league’s top power-play unit then went to work. T.J. Oshie fired a shot that deflected off David Backes, who was providing a screen. The carom wound up on the stick of Perron, and he snapped the puck home with 2:48 left in the opening frame for a 4-0 lead.
“Especially in the first 10 minutes, we were outworked,” Calgary forward Jarome Iginla said. “We weren’t ready physically to battle and compete.”
Wideman scored a power-play goal late in the second period, then Glencross drove the net and tapped in Iginla’s saucer pass at the 2:46 mark of the third. It was his 100th NHL goal.
Seventeen seconds later, however, Calgary defenseman Mark Giordano was whistled for interference. Perron struck again on the man advantage, beating MacDonald at 4:08.
