Faksa breaks tie in 3rd, Blues edge Flames

ST. LOUIS — Radek Faksa scored the go-ahead goal in the third period for the St. Louis Blues in a 2-1 win against the Calgary Flames at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Faksa redirected in a Tyler Tucker right point shot from the slot at 11:11 of the third to give the Blues a 2-1 lead.

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“It’s nice to contribute, especially in a big game like that,” Faksa said. “It was a little playoff game for us. It feels good, but I feel like it was a whole team effort. Lots of guys did lots of good stuff. [Jordan Binnington] made lots of good saves, also good blocks in the end. It was a good performance by us.”

Binnington made 26 saves, and Colton Parayko scored for the Blues (21-20-4), who have defeated the Flames five straight times. The teams play again Thursday in St. Louis.

The Blues rebounded after a 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.

“It was good, a good start,” Parayko said. “I think we played a pretty good 60 minutes, obviously a close game. We knew it was going to be a tight one with standings and where everyone is. Kind of a mini-playoff series, if you will. I thought we played a good game. Nice to win a close game. It was good.”

Kevin Bahl scored for the Flames (21-15-7), who had their three-game winning streak end. Calgary won 5-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday to open a four-game road trip. Dan Vladar made 23 saves.

“It was a good game, tight game,” Calgary forward Nazem Kadri said. “Definitely not a lot of room out there, but I think we put forward a pretty good effort, obviously came up a little short. Had some great opportunities, but just couldn’t buy another one.”

Parayko scored 49 seconds into the first period to make it 1-0, following up Cam Fowler’s rebound, scoring on a wrister from the right circle.

“Maybe pucks are coming to me at the right time, right areas,” Parayko said. “As a group of defensemen, I think we’re trying to play up more on their forwards in the O-zone. That’s kind of what just happened there. The puck came loose and found me. Trying to get pucks to the net, trying to hit the net. If not go in, rebound hopefully, create something for one of the guys.”

Bahl’s wrister from just inside the top of the left circle beat Binnington to the short side tied the game 1-1 at 6:06 of the third period.

“It was nice. I just winded up,” Bahl said. “I was going to try and throw it backside and I had nobody there. I was just like, ‘Maybe I can sneak one in on the other side.’ We’ve been throwing it on the back post a lot this game. It worked out.”

The Flames pulled Vladar with 1:57 remaining in the third, but the Blues came up with three blocked shots by Jake Neighbours, Fowler and Faksa, and Binnington made a save on Rasmus Andersson, all in the final 1:20 to preserve the win.

“It was really good,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought guys sacrificed and I thought our sticks were really good all night. On the penalty kill, 5-on-5, in the D-zone. And I just liked the way we were able to win a 2-1 game, a low-scoring game because we had to play hard.”

NOTES: Binnington is 8-1-0 in 10 games (nine starts) against the Flames. … The Blues are 9-1-0 in their past 10 and 13-2-0 the past 15 games against Calgary. … Vladar is 0-4-1 his past five starts. … Parayko has nine goals, and needs one to tie his NHL career high, accomplished three times (2018-19, 2019-20 and 2023-24).