The St. Louis Blues won their fourth consecutive game in overtime against the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night. The game was very close all the way though, with Carolina pushing hard from the very start, and nearly coming away with a win.
The Hurricanes began the game with a strong defensive and neutral zone game, and almost instantly put the Blues back on their heels. Within thirty seconds of puck drop, Jared Staal had a shot on goal from a pass from his brother and captain, Eric Staal.
This set the tone for much of the first period, with the Blues playing desperate, sloppy defense that allowed for three goals by Rask, Skinner, and Eric Staal.
Rask’s goal was almost immediate, with only two minutes gone in the first. He caught a rebound off Brian Elliott from a shot by ‘Canes player Murphy, and shot it in off a Blues players’ skate.
The Blues were able to rally and bring it into the offensive zone, with Bouwmeester taking a shot that Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward shut down quickly, but St. Louis was almost immediately sent right back on D. There was a fast back-and-forth and the Blues managed to clear the puck to the offensive zone. After a quick tic-tac-toe from Pietrangelo to Backes to Steen, Steen slammed it home to even up the score.
Dec 27, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center David Backes (C) celebrates with T.J. Oshie (L) and Alexander Steen (R). Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Unfortunately for St. Louis, Carolina took this as a kick in the pants and quickly put two more goals in in succession with a particularly embarrassing one by Skinner, who was left alone high in the slot to simply wrist one in past Elliott.
Jackman and Gleason were sent off for five-minute majors after a strange, quick fight between Jackman and Gleason over Jackman’s tripping over the smallest Carolina forward, Gerbe. Fans watching hoped that the best power play in the league would be able to overwhelm the fifth-best penalty kill, but it was not to be.
Eric Staal slammed another goal home with 4:22 left in the first, and Hitchcock pulled Brian Elliott in favor of Jake Allen. Carolina took no more shots on goal for the rest of the first period.
As the game went on, both teams seemed to get their feet under them.
The second period saw the Blues come back harder and stronger, taking posession of the neutral zone. It opened on good, fast play with heavy passing (and some line changes by Hitchcock) and St. Louis saw two goals, one from Schwartz and the second from Berglund in quick succession.
Every time Jaden Schwartz is on the ice, something good happens for the Blues. #StlBlues
— Andrew Allsman (@allsmandrew) January 11, 2015
The rest of the second period was a blur of back-and-forth across the neutral zone, and very few chances to get shots on goal. Riley Nash put Carolina ahead by one again with a tight wrister sent flying past Allen.
The game stayed close until the start of the third, when at 6:46 the now-NHL All-Star Tarasenko scored on Cam Ward, evening up the score for St. Louis. After Saturday’s game Tarasenko moved up in the ranks, only three goals behind the leading goal scorer in the NHL, Dallas Stars forward Tyler Seguin.
The Blues continued to press hard and fast, as did Carolina, who demonstrated a new strength in play after the return of Jared Staal off IR. Both teams created scoring opportunities — most memorable is when with 6 minutes to go of the third, Tarasenko was involved in scrum in front of the net. While Ward saved it, the puck squeaked in behind him but was shoveled out of the blue paint by one of his teammates. After, shots were heavy and hard, but none went in, and the game went to overtime.
Overtime saw the Blues spend most of their time in Carolina’s end, pushing hard for a goal. Finally Berglund sent it across the ice to Lehtera, who backhanded it to Bouwmeester who wristed it in behind Ward with 1:52 left in overtime — only to have that goal waved off for goaltender interference by Berglund.
With only one referee and no review available in overtime, the Blues went back up to the dot to face off against the Hurricanes.
The Blues finally managed to get it out of their end with 30 seconds to go in overtime, only for Tarasenko to be called offside.
Finally, both teams went to a shootout and Jake Allen stepped up.
Dec 27, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen (34) makes a save. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
First up was T.J. Oshie. Oshie waited, waited, faked a backhand and went to a forehand right over Ward’s glove side.
Skinner came up next for Carolina and was denied a five-hole goal by Jake Allen.
Alexander Steen sent his shot blocker side and Ward made a fast save he almost bobbled, as it came to a rest between his legs. A little more momentum and we would have had our win then and there.
Finally up was Eric Staal for Carolina. Staal came in low and Allen made a fast, easy right-pad save against him.
Next was Tarasenko with a fake and then one sent right to Ward’s blocker, possibly extending the shootout, if it weren’t for Allen. Allen easily slapped Alexander Semin’s next shot out of midair, ending the game for the Blues.