BLUES An early goal by Connor McDavid wouldn't keep the St. Louis Blues down on Wednesday night. Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and two assists and Jake Allen turned in a great performance with 32 saves to send the Blues to their sixth consecutive win with a 5-2 victory against the Edmonton Oilers.
"It was a good team effort at the end," Robert Thomas, who scored the game-winning goal, said after the game. "They really brought it to us and they're a good, explosive team. We knew they were going to come with a big push and (Allen) stood tall for us."
"It was a tough back-to-back with the late night (against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday) and the early game (Wednesday)," said Allen. "The guys deserve a lot of credit for the way they played."
With eight wins in their last nine games, the Blues (11-3-3) sit atop of the Western Conference with 25 points and are only two back of the Washington Capitals for the League lead.
FLAMES Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Mikael Backlund each had a goal and an assist for the Calgary Flames on Thursday night in a 5-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Scotiabank Saddledome.
With the victory, Calgary (10-7-2) has won four of their last five games and are 6-1-1 at home this season.
"I think that was one of our best complete efforts of the season," Gaudreau told NHL.com after the game. "It was a good game for our team."
Matthew Tkachuk leads the Flames with 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in 19 games this season, while Elias Lindholm and Gaudreau each rank second on the club with 17 points. As of Thursday night, Flames goalie David Rittch led the NHL with 443 saves - 56 more than Marc-Andre Fleury of the Vegas Golden Knights, who ranked second with 287.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues went 2-1-0 against the Flames last season and are 7-4-1 in their last 12 games in Calgary.
Saturday's matchup will be the first of three meetings this season, with the next coming Nov. 21 in St. Louis.
