[Caged Great]

The Flames are usually terrible against St. Louis.

The key thing that they needed to do tonight was at least be close in terms of play. Were they hammered in the 2nd period, yes and that is still a concern, but they heavily outplayed them in the third and were equal to them in the first. That is very important because in the past few years, they never got even remotely close to being equal at any point in any game against them.

Does it suck they didn't get a point, sure. Is it encouraging that they can play with one of the best teams in the league, definitely. They don't play another Western conference elite team until Nov. 15 against Chicago, so this was a good barometer to measure where this team is at. This is the least angry I have been at a loss in a long time.