Neighbours, Blues rebound in win against Flames

CALGARY -- Jake Neighbours scored twice, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Calgary Flames 4-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist, and Pius Suter scored for the Blues (1-1-0), who bounced back from a 5-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild in their season opener on Thursday. Joel Hofer made 27 saves.

"The boys battled hard," Hofer said. "It was a greasy road win. After our last game, we didn't like how we played, so it was a huge bounce-back for us. Hopefully, we can keep this momentum going."

Matt Coronato scored twice for the Flames (1-2-0). Dustin Wolf made 24 saves.

"Similar to Vancouver (5-1 loss to the Canucks on Thursday), I liked our first couple periods," Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. "I thought there was a lot of good things there. We didn't finish our chances when we needed to earlier in the game and I think that because of that, they were able to hang around."

Coronato gave the Flames a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 14:49 of the first period when his shot from the left of the net deflected off Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker and past Hofer.

"Matt's our shooter," Huska said. "I thought he was good. That was the Matt that we're used to seeing. He was around the puck a lot tonight, so we need that."

Neighbours tied the game 1-1 at 12:41 of the second period after he took a pass from Thomas and backhanded the puck under Wolf's legs.

Neighbours, who grew up in nearby Airdrie, Alberta, had family and friends on hand.

"(It's the) first time I scored here in the NHL, so it was pretty special," Neighbours said. "And just special having my family and friends here and being able to perform for them, get a win in front of them is really nice."

Thomas scored on the power play at 14:25 to give the Blues a 2-1 lead. He took a pass from Jimmy Snuggerud and wristed a shot over Wolf's left shoulder.

Coronato scored his second of the game 32 seconds later to tie it 2-2. He took a long pass from Kevin Bahl and scored with a wrist shot from the right circle.

"There's obviously going to be momentum swings in games too with power plays, penalty kill," Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. "They have a good shift, we have a good shift, but I thought overall the first two periods were good by us."

Neighbours tipped in a shot by Colton Parayko at 11:07 of the third period to give the Blues a 3-2 lead.

"He was really tenacious," Montgomery said of Neighbours. "He's had a really good friend pass away (recently), so it was an emotional moment for him, not just because it's his hometown, but he's been dealing with a little bit of loss and that's not easy. He's a tremendous character kid, someone that I'm sure will wear a letter [for the Blues] one day."

Suter redirected Tucker's point shot past Wolf at 13:33 for the 4-2 final.

NOTES: The Blues became the third team in NHL history with a point in its first road game of a season in 10 consecutive seasons. The Philadelphia Flyers also did it 10 straight seasons from 2015-25, and the Montreal Canadiens did to 11 straight times from 1963-74). … The Blues have won six straight games in Calgary and are 9-1-0 in their past 10 games in Calgary. They have won seven in a row against the Flames and are 11-1-0 in their last 12 games against them. … Parayko's assist was his 296th point with St. Louis, tying Rob Ramage for fourth most by a defenseman in Blues history. … The Flames have been outscored 9-3 in their previous two games following a season-opening 4-3 shootout win against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.