Flames score seven, including four in first, in win against Blues

ST. LOUIS -- The Calgary Flames scored four goals in the first period in a 7-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Sunday.

Elias Lindholm had a goal and two assists, Johnny Gaudreau had two goals and an assist, Alan Quine scored twice, and Matthew Tkachuk and Mark Giordano each had a goal and an assist for Calgary (22-10-2), which has won eight of its past nine games and has allowed two or fewer goals in nine of its past 12.
David Rittich made 26 saves for the Flames, who are off to the second-best start through 34 games in their history. They started 23-6-5 (51 points) in 1988-89.
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"We've been lucky to come up with that jump often this year," Tkachuk said about the first period. "We've had a couple five goals, a couple three goals, four goals, or whatever. It's nice to get off to that start."

Oskar Sundqvist and Tyler Bozak scored for St. Louis (12-15-4), which had won two straight. Jake Allen allowed four goals on 16 shots. He was replaced at the start of the second period by Jordan Binnington, who made 10 saves.
Binnington was making his second NHL appearance and first since Jan. 14, 2016.
"The first period. We just didn't come out," Blues forward Pat Maroon said. "I don't know why we didn't come out. It's been an ongoing thing all year. It's been disappointing.
"We had a chance to move up in the standings and a chance to gain playoff position and we come out in the first period flat-footed. I don't have answers anymore. It's just kind of embarrassing, to be honest with you."
Tkachuk scored a power-play goal to give the Flames a 1-0 lead at 5:58 of the first period.
Lindholm scored shorthanded at 10:15 to make it 2-0. It was the third straight game the Flames have scored a shorthanded goal, the eighth time in their history they've done so and first since Feb.14-20, 2011.

Giordano extended the lead to 3-0 on the power play at 16:47, and Quine made it 4-0 on a rebound at 18:25.
"I think our special teams carried the play tonight," Giordano said. "That was a big difference in the game. We had a real good first period, we were moving it. After that, it's tough because teams take a lot of chances. I thought they had a good cycle going, but we kept them to the outside for the most part."
Sundqvist scored for the Blues at 2:29 of the second period to make it 4-1, but Gaudreau made it 5-1 at 5:26.
Bozak cut it to 5-2 at 18:14.
"You've got to go out there with some pride and jump back in the game," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I thought in the second, we did a little bit. We pushed and ended up getting a couple goals. In the third, there was nothing, and you've got to have a lot more pride than that. If you don't have more pride than that, then you're not going to go anywhere."
Gaudreau scored his second of the game into an empty net to make it 6-2 at 16:53 of the third period, and Quine scored a power-play goal at 18:44 to make it 7-2.

They said it

"We forced some turnovers early, we ended up with 16 shots in the first period and looked like we had a lot of jump. As the game we went on, I thought we lost our legs a little bit, which is understandable also. I think we only had nine shots and then four in the third. They got better and then we kind of ran out of gas is what I saw. Credit to them though, too. They dug in and played better." -- Flames coach Bill Peters
"The start killed us. We didn't come out with jump and ready for them and they're a team that's playing loose now. They've won a lot of hockey games. They got to us early and we didn't have the jump needed." -- Blues center Ryan O'Reilly

Need to know

Gaudreau has 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) in his past 15 games. ... Flames forward Sean Monahan had an assist to give him 20 points (11 goals, nine assists) in the past 15 games.... Tkachuk has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) the past nine games. ... Lindholm has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) the past 10 games. ... Maroon played in his 400th NHL game. ... Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko doesn't have a point in his past seven games. … Giordano has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in a five-game point streak.

What's next

Flames:At the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, SNW, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; SN1, FS-MW, NHL.TV)