Flames gain in Pacific Division race

ST. LOUIS --The Calgary Flames are three points out of first place in the Pacific Division after Sean Monahan scored with 2.5 seconds left in overtime to give them a 3-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center on Saturday.
Monahan's centering pass went in off Blues forward Kyle Brodziak's skate to win it.
"There were 15 seconds there and [Mark Giordano] made a great play in the slot and I missed that one, and I tried to feed it backdoor and it bounced in off [Kyle] for a great win," Monahan said. "You never know when you throw pucks at the net, anything can happen. That's a good bounce, a lucky bounce, and we'll take it."

WATCH: All Flames vs. Blues highlights
Troy Brouwer and Matt Bartkowski each scored on the power play, and former St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott made 29 saves for Calgary (42-29-4), which went 1-2-0 on a three-game road trip.

The Flames trail the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers by three points in the race for first in the Pacific. They lead the Blues by two points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Elliott, who spent the past five seasons with St. Louis, is 13-1-1 in his past 15 starts with a 1.86 goals-against average and .937 save percentage.
"It was a tough trip," Elliott said. "All these teams are in the hunt and on top of their game right now. Getting this was big for us. Every game is going to be big but one at a time, and this one was one of them."
Ivan Barbashev and Jaden Schwartz scored, and Jake Allen made 28 saves for the Blues (40-28-6), who lost for the first time in five games.
St. Louis trails the Nashville Predators by one point for third place in the Central Division and leads the Los Angeles Kings by nine points for the second wild card.

"They had the puck a lot [in overtime]," Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "It's tough when all three goals go in off your own guys. You feel bad for Jake, who played the way he did. If you're going to give up three goals off your own guys, it means probably for the most part you're doing a good job defensively."
Brouwer, who played for the Blues last season, put the Flames ahead 1-0 on a shot from the right faceoff circle that appeared to hit defenseman Jay Bouwmeester's stick and go over Allen at 17:11 of the first period.
The Blues tied it 1-1 when Barbashev stayed with his own rebound and scored from the slot at 8:08 of the second period.
Schwartz put the Blues on top 2-1 at 7:16 of the third period after following up a point shot, but Bartkowski tied it 2-2 when his shot from the left circle went in off Bouwmeester's skate at 10:53.
Mikael Backlund had a chance to win it for the Flames in overtime, but his shot hit the post with 2:47 remaining.

Goal of the game

After taking a pass from Colton Parayko in the bottom of the left faceoff circle, Barbashev's initial shot was blocked by defenseman TJ Brodie, but he stayed with it and beat Elliott high with a wrist shot from the top of the right hash marks.

Save of the game

Allen made a right-pad save on Monahan from point-blank range off a Johnny Gaudreau pass with 1:45 remaining in overtime.

Highlight of the game

With time running out in overtime, Monahan was looking to make a backdoor pass to Michael Frolik but instead got a fortuitous carom for the game-winning goal.

Unsung performance of the game

Flames defenseman Deryk Engelland kept the game 1-1 when he blocked Barbashev's shot at 4:53 of the third period with Elliott out of position following a save on a Bouwmeester shot. Engelland had four blocked shots and four hits in 16:39.

They said it

"I didn't even see it. I jumped when everybody else jumped, and it was kind of like I didn't get the joke. ... I just jumped because I saw everybody else jump, so now I've got to take a look at it now."-- Flames coach Glen Gulutzan on the game-winning goal
"It's hockey. Unlucky bounces. We got a point, moved ahead. Positive. Didn't go backwards." -- Blues goalie Jake Allen on having three goals go in off teammates

Need to know

Flames left wing Matthew Tkachuk returned after missing two games because of a suspension for a hit on Kings defenseman Drew Doughty last Sunday. ... Gaudreau has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) the past 10 games. ... Monahan has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) the past 11 games.

What's next

Flames: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Monday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, ALT, NHL.TV)
Blues:Host the Arizona Coyotes on Monday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-A, NHL.TV)