CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Brandon Saad’s second goal of the night with 48 seconds left in the third period was the winner as the St. Louis Blues rallied to beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 on Tuesday night.
“I felt good,” said Saad, who led the visitors with five shots. “You want to see some more of those go in but any time you see them go in they feel good. Happy to contribute tonight.”
Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou also scored for St. Louis and Jordan Binnington made 32 saves.
MacKenzie Weegar, Noah Hanifin and Yegor Sharangovich provided the offense for Calgary, which has lost three in a row. Jacob Markstrom, returning from a three-game absence due to a lower-body injury, made 22 saves.
Down 3-1 late in the second, St. Louis started its comeback with a short-handed goal.
When Weegar mishandled the puck at the St. Louis blue line, Schenn pounced on it and raced away on a breakaway, burying his 11th goal of the season past Markstrom.
The Blues’ 11th short-handed goal moves them into a tie for the league lead with the Dallas Stars.
Kyrou tied it 3-3 at 6:56 of the third when he skated uncontested into the slot off the side boards and fired his 13th goal just inside the goalpost.
On the winning goal, Saad got the puck inside his own blue line, carried it through the neutral zone and sent a 50-foot wrist shot that rattled in off the goalpost on Markstrom’s glove side.
“I was just trying to move him side to side and shoot through a screen and it found a way in for me,” said Saad, who has 13 goals on the season.
Markstrom said he still should have had it, despite the puck taking a bad bounce.
“That’s tough. Obviously with the clock and the time left and tie game, it’s a crazy skip off the ice and post and in. I don’t know. Obviously, I need to stop that one,” said Markstrom.
“I thought it was fine, I thought it was just gonna hit the pad.”
Having already eclipsed his career high of eight, Weegar’s 11 goals is tied for third for defensemen in the league behind Rasmus Dahlin (13) and Quinn Hughes (12).
While the Blues are 18-2-0 when scoring first, their .900 winning percentage leading the NHL, it’s the opposite when they don’t score first. But Tuesday’s win improves their record when trailing first to 5-18-2.
The Blues are three points back of Nashville for the second wild-card berth with two games in hand.
“These are big wins, four-point games, teams you need to beat in order to climb the standings,” said Schenn. “Gutsy comeback win. It was nice that it was regulation as well.”
UP NEXT
Blues: Visit Vancouver on Wednesday night.
Flames: Host Columbus on Thursday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
The Associated Press
