Walker helps Blues defeat Flames, keep pace in Central race

CALGARY -- Nathan Walker broke a tie with 1:56 remaining in the third period to help the St. Louis Blues to a 6-4 win against the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday.

Justin Faulk had a goal and two assists, and Robert Thomas and Ryan O'Reilly each had a goal and an assist for the Blues (38-20-10), who have a four-game point streak (3-0-1) and finished 2-0-1 on a Western Canada road trip. Ville Husso made 39 saves.
St. Louis remained three points behind the Minnesota Wild for second place in the Central Division. The Wild won 3-1 at the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.
"You don't care how you get them, you just want the two points," Faulk said. "Five [points] out of six on the road trip for us ... tough road trip, lot of travel, back-to-back [games] ... it's a big five points for us."

Noah Hanifin had a goal and an assist, and Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves for the Flames (40-19-9), who have lost three in a row (0-2-1). Calgary's lead in the Pacific Division was cut to three points when the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Saturday.
"There are ups and downs in the season, and one of the things we've done really well this year is we've established an identity," Flames forward Milan Lucic said. "We have an identity of what gives us success, and now we have a foundation to fall back on in order to get our game right and get our game where we need it to be in order to have success."
Walker scored on a wrist shot from the slot by Markstrom's blocker on a setup from Thomas to put the Blues up 4-3 at 18:04.
"He made a [heck] of a play," Walker said. "I just tried to get open in the middle there and tried to get the puck on net, which was good."
Hanifin had tied it 3-3 at 10:43 when he shot by Husso in a net-front scramble.
Ivan Barbashev scored into an empty net at 19:05 to make it 5-3, but Dillon Dube cut it to 5-4 at 19:22.
Brandon Saad scored an empty-net goal with five seconds remaining for the 6-4 final. It was his 20th goal of the season, the sixth time he has scored 20 or more goals in the NHL.
"Whenever we've had success this year is by playing a hard-nosed, checking game and not trying to win a game 6-5, or whatever," Hanifin said. "We've just got to get back on track here."

Thomas tipped in Faulk's point shot 54 seconds into the first period to put St. Louis up 1-0.
Brett Ritchie tied it 1-1 at 4:47. Ritchie, a healthy scratch for three straight games and six of seven, was put into the lineup when center Calle Jarnkrok did not play because of a non-COVID-related illness.
Johnny Gaudreau gave Calgary a 2-1 lead at 12:49 when he shot over Husso's glove on a partial breakaway after being sprung by Mikael Backlund.
O'Reilly tied it 2-2 at 17:31 when he shot by Markstrom's blocker on a pass from Brayden Schenn on the power play.
Faulk put the Blues up 3-2 at 13:35 of the second period off a backdoor cross-ice pass from David Perron.
"He didn't get the puck to me in the middle, it kind of closed up," Faulk said. "I guess I didn't want to hit the brakes and I saw a little bit of a gap to go to the back post. He made a great pass. I didn't really have to do much. I just had to put my stick there and the puck ended up going into the net."

St. Louis was outshot 16-6 in the first period and 28-10 through two periods.
"I thought we did a lot of good things," Hanifin said. "A few chances they had, they capitalized on. That's something we've got to clean up. I think in the second period they were only at 10 shots, but we were giving them good chances and that's something we can't allow, especially with the identify of our team. That's something we don't normally do."
NOTES: Ritchie sustained an apparent lower-body injury at 10:43 of the third period when Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo fell awkwardly on his right leg. There was no update. ... Calgary has lost three in a row for the first time since a four-game losing streak from Jan. 4-13. ... Thomas has scored nine points (three goals, six assists) in a five-game point streak. ... O'Reilly has scored four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games. ... The Flames are 1-12-2 when trailing after two periods this season. ... The Blues, who were part of the 1967 NHL expansion, have 1,967 wins. … Husso is 9-0-1 against the Pacific this season, one of two goalies without a regulation loss against a single division (Markstrom, 9-0-2 vs. Metropolitan). … St. Louis forward Pavel Buchnevich set an NHL career high with his 31st assist. He had 30 assists with the New York Rangers in 2019-20. … Hanifin set an NHL career high with 34 points. He scored 33 points in 2018-19.