Preview: Blues vs. Flames

BLUES VS. FLAMES

TEAM SNAPSHOTS

BLUES An illegal equipment penalty, big hits, big shot blocks, big saves and a shorthanded overtime game winner - Friday's game between the St. Louis Blues and Colorado Avalanche had a little bit of everything.
The Blues were on the wrong side of the illegal equipment call - Vladimir Tarasenko was sent to the penalty box when he picked up and used Colton Parayko's stick (the NHL later admitted that call was made in error) - but were on the right side of the overtime game-winner to earn a 4-3 overtime over the Avalanche.
The win was the Blues' second straight.
"We showed good maturity tonight, resilience," said Ryan O'Reilly, who was the hero with the game-winning goal. "We played them well. We had a good game plan and we stuck to it... we played the game that we needed to to win."
The Blues will get Joel Edmundson back in the lineup Sunday. Edmundson has missed two games with an upper-body injury.

FLAMES David Rittich made 34 saves, Mark Giordano scored a shorthanded goal for the second straight game and Matthew Tkachuk broke a 1-1 tie in the third period to lift the Calgary Flames to a 2-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday afternoon.
"That was a big win," Tkachuk told NHL.com after the game. "That's a pretty tough team over there, especially at home. We've played them two games this year and it's ben 2-1 and 2-0, so they don't give up a ton and neither do we. You had to fight for your chances, and we just got the better of them there late in the third, but it was a pretty even game if you ask me."
The win gave the Flames their seventh in the last eight games.
Johnny Gaudreau leads the Flames with 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists) in 33 games this season.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues won the first meeting between the teams back on Oct. 11 at Enterprise Center - it was the Blues' first win of the season.
Sunday's game marks the second of three meetings. The Blues are 14-5-2 in their last 21 games against the Flames and are 9-1-1 in their last 11 meetings at home.
Tkachuk, a St. Louis native and the son of former Blue Keith Tkachuk, ranks third on the Flames roster with 37 points (13 goals, 24 assists) this season.

BLUE NOTES

Pat Maroon is expected to play in his 400th game on Sunday… Colton Parayko, who scored two goals Friday against the Avalanche, has nine points (three goals, six assists) in 10 career games against the Flames… The Blues rank second in the NHL in face-off win percentage (52.7 percent)… Jake Allen has a 2.22 goals-against average and a .925 save-percentage in his last 12 starts… Fans attending Sunday's game can stay after the contest to watch the Police vs. Fire Benefit Hockey Game, which supports Backstoppers and the Lifesaving Foundation.