CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Blues found the tonic for their banged up defense - the Calgary Flames.
Jeff Heerema scored his first goal of the season 46 seconds into the third period and Chris Osgood made 25 saves as the Blues edged the Flames, 2-1.
The Blues played without four injured defensemen, including reigning Calder Trophy winner Barret Jackman, who earlier in the day was ruled out for at least two weeks with a dislocated left shoulder.
"The thing with so many injuries is this is a good thing for later in the year," Blues goaltender Chris Osgood said. "We're going to have to buy into a system, and we are. We have tons of talent and we're going to be able to score lots of goals."
Already without Al MacInnis, Alexander Khavanov and Christian Laflamme on the blue line, the Blues had no trouble holding down Calgary's offense, which has totaled a Western Conference-low nine goals in six games.
Rookie Matthew Lombardi scored the lone goal for the Flames, who have been held to one goal or less in four of six games this season (3-3-0).
"We just have to get shots on net and not get too caught up with that," Lombardi said. "We've got guys who can score on every line and we just have to get shots on net."
Heerema put St. Louis ahead for good when he took a diagonal pass from Pavol Demitra and beat Jamie McLennan with a one-timer from the bottom of the left faceoff circle. It was the first goal of the season for Heerema, who was claimed off waivers earlier this month.
"Pav just threw a great pass, a beautiful pass across the ice, and I was lucky to get my stick on it and lucky to go in, too," said Heerema, who had three goals in 10 games with Carolina last season.
Doug Weight also scored for the Blues, who were coming off Wednesday's 3-2 loss in Vancouver. They are off to a 4-2-0-1 start, 3-2-0-1 on the road.
"To start the season, we have seven of nine on the road, so we needed to get a good start," captain Chris Pronger said. "We've had that so far, although we had a tough loss in Vancouver the other night."
Weight opened the scoring on the power play 2:47 into the first period, shoveling a backhander past former McLennan off Pronger's feed to the bottom of the left faceoff circle.
Later in the period, Heerema checked Flames left wing Dean McCammond head-first into the boards in the neutral zone. McAmmond did not return.
Lombardi tied it 7:21 before the first intermission. Backskating in the left circle, he took Steven Reinprecht's soft backhand pass from behind the net and put a quick forehand off Osgood's skate and the left goalpost and into the net.
The Flames nearly grabbed the lead in the final minute of the second period, but Jarome Iginla hit the post. Iginla assisted on Lombardi's goal but has just two points in six games.
Heerema scored of Lombardi's turnover just inside his own blue line. Demitra ended up with the puck in the right corner, skated to the top of the circle and fed Heerema for the one-timer.
"I made one bad giveaway and it ended up being the winner," Lombardi said. "We just have to come out strong tomorrow and get a win in Edmonton."
