Blues give up two short-handed goals in 7-4 loss to Flames
CALGARY, Alberta -- Michael Frolik scored three times, included two short-handed goals, as the Calgary Flames beat the St. Louis Blues 7-4 Monday night.
Sean Monahan had two goals and Joe Colborne and Mark Giordano also scored for Calgary. Dougie Hamilton and Johnny Gaudreau each had three assists, and Joni Ortio finished with 31 saves to improve to 3-7-3.
Paul Stastny scored twice and Scottie Upshall and Kevin Shattenkirk each had a goal for St. Louis, which had won six straight.
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Shattenkirk had a power-play goal at 3:28 of the third and Stastny added his second of the game 10 minutes later to pull the Blues to 5-4.
Frolik's second score gave the Flames some breathing room with 3:11 remaining and he added an empty-netter with 35 seconds to go for his 14th of the season. The goal prompted fans to send hats flying onto the ice at the raucous Scotiabank Saddledome.
The Blues lost a chance to move ahead of Dallas into top spot in the Central Division. They remain tied in points with Stars, who now have a game in hand.
Monahan gave Calgary the lead at 5:13 of the second when he wristed a perfect shot over Blues goalie Jake Allen's shoulder to make it 3-2.
After Giordano's power-play goal with about 9 minutes left in the period made it 4-2 and led to Allen getting pulled, Monahan made it a three-goal cushion with 6:23 to go when he beat Anders Nilsson through the legs on a breakaway.
Allen stopped 13 of the 17 shots he faced, and Nilsson had 12 saves on his 14 shots.
Calgary got on the scoreboard first 10:24 into the game on a fluke goal. Allen went behind his net to stop a dump-in, but the puck struck the stanchion in the corner and bounced wickedly into the slot where Colborne buried his 13th into an open net.
The lead lasted only 9 seconds with Upshall beat Ortio over the shoulder from a sharp angle.
Stastny gave the Blues the lead with 7:46 left in the period, but Frolik's short-handed score tied it with 3:18 remaining.
NOTES: Calgary's TJ Brodie (upper body) and Sam Bennett (upper body) both missed their second game, ... Calgary's Matt Stajan hasn't scored in 28 games. ... St. Louis had won the previous six meetings between the two teams. ... Gaudreau increases his NHL-leading home point total to 51 (23 goals, 28 assists). He's five up on Chicago's Patrick Kane.
