Five takeaways from Calgary vs St. Louis:
1) Though the Flames didn't get the result they wanted, I think Glen Gulutzan has to be pretty content with the effort he saw.
The Flames came out really strong and were the better team for much of the game. They out-chanced a very good, rested, Blues team and were able to generate more offense in the slot and around the net.
The difference, again, was special teams. The Flames were (mostly) disciplined but when they did take penalties, the puck ended up in the back of their net.
2) Led by Mikael Backlund, it was another good night for the 3M line. He scored a pair of goals, prevented some chances from occurring with good positioning and a good stick, and tied Matthew Tkachuk and Vladimir Tarasenko for second in the game with four scoring chances at 5v5.
3) Brett Kulak played less than 10 minutes but I thought he was good. He skated well, made simple plays with the puck, and didn't find himself in trouble very often. I think Gulutzan would be smart to loosen the leash a little bit because a) I think Kulak can handle at least a few more shifts and; b) it'd prevent him from riding the top-4 into the ground. T.J. Brodie, for example, has logged 25+ minutes seven times in 10 games.
4) Mark Jankowski played more than 12 minutes at 5v5 and was not on the ice for a scoring chance against. He played almost exclusively against St. Louis' depth pieces, but that's still pretty impressive for a guy playing his second game of the season and in the latter half of a back-to-back.
5) On the surface, Eddie Lack's debut wasn't a good one -- it's hard to win with .857 goaltending -- but I thought he was fine. He made a couple impressive flurries of saves and, for the most part, the goals he allowed were perfectly placed shots, came on the power play, or both. Lack kept it a one-goal game until less than four minutes remaining against one of the league's best teams in the early going. That's all you can ask of a backup, especially one getting his first start of the year.
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