'BETTER BE ON TOP OF THEM'

ST. LOUIS - Just like a playoff series, the one-on-one matchups become magnified, the deeper you go.
It's the game within the game that makes the postseason so great.
So, while the four-day stretch here in the American Midwest doesn't quite have the cachet of a summertime chase for the Cup, there are some similarities in how the Flames (and Blues, quite frankly) will approach tonight's game.
"I thought we did some good things," said Noah Hanifin, who logged an assist in 23:10 of ice time on Tuesday. "The difference, tonight, is that we need to be a little more consistent with it. Obviously, when we get leads like that in the third, we have to tighten it up and can't take our foot off the gas pedal.
"If we take out the things we did well and apply it consistently tonight throughout the entire 60 minutes, we're going to have success."

It's quite the dichotomy, when you think about it.
The Flames, understandably, left the building that night seething after their second straight overtime defeat. But there had to be at least some satisfaction knowing that if they play that way on a consistent basis and don't have what Nazem Kadri described as a "five-minute lapse," they can make amends and head off to the next stop with three of a possible four points in the Show-Me State.
Remember, the Flames were far and away the better team in the opening 40 minutes the other night, out-shooting the Blues 25-18 and carrying a 3-1 lead into the third. Normally - and with the visitors boasting a 16-1-2 record when leading after two entering the night - you'd take those odds.
Ultimately, it came undone at the hands of a fluke bounce - followed 28 seconds later by some elite marksmanship.
The Blues - who are two points back of the final wild-card playoff spot - are currently without Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan O'Reilly, Torey Krug, Robert Bortuzzo, Nick Leddy and Marco Scandella, but have been getting some big contributions in their absence.
Their top line of Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich were on a tear Tuesday, with the trio combining to score three of the Blues' four goals.
Kyrou led the way with a three-point effort - his fourth of the campaign - while Thomas netted the OT winner while adding an assist.
"They're great players," Hanifin said of the unit. "They're really good off the rush and that's something we have to handle and be better at tonight. We've got to be up on our gaps and not let them enter our zone clean.
"That's on us as defencemen, but also as a five-man unit, making sure we're getting that back-pressure to help seal off the lanes. They're a team that creates a lot off the rush We have to take pride in shutting that down and do better to contain them tonight."
And the best way to do that is to not feed into it in the first place.
"If you just watch the game again, the goal they score ... We get the puck in the middle and turn it over," said Head Coach Darryl Sutter. "And then we don't check properly.
"So, we turn the puck over - the centreman does - and then we don't check properly. That's a high-end line. Those two kids, that's top-end in this division, those two boys. You better be on top of them."
Kyrou, Thomas and Buchnevich are 1-2-3 in Blues scoring, with the former - at age 24 - already at the 20-goal mark after tucking a career-high 27 last year. Combined, the trio has 116 points with 39, 41 and 33 games played, respectively.
The Flames' top pair of Hanifin and the

Rasmus Andersson played 6:15 against them the other night at 5-on-5, but came out on the wrong end of the possession battle (38.46%) and both regular and high-danger scoring chance metrics.
For them, the strategy is actually quite simple. If you support the puck well in the most dangerous parts of the ice, a team like the Blues and their talented young stars will have a more difficult time winding it up and attacking with numbers through the neutral zone.
It's not on one player, either.
It's a full team effort.
"It's all about supporting the puck and supporting each other out there," Hanifin explained. "You don't want to play that real long game - especially against these guys. You want to be tight together and make those short, quick plays. When we've done that in the past, we've had success. And when you look at a team like the Blues that thrive in transition and are known as a rush team, it's about being there.
"Turnovers are going to happen throughout games.
"It's just about limiting them and if a turnover does happen, making sure everyone is there protecting each other and not allowing a chance against."