Last night’s game is how the Blues need to play if they want to come out of this four game road trip with some quality wins. Better yet, it broke last season’s trend of rolling over and letting themselves lose when they were down after two periods.
The Blues opened the scoring at just 2:37 of the first period, with a wrist shot from Matt D’Agostini that flew past San Jose goaltender Thomas Greiss. That goal appeared to waken a sleeping beast, though, as San Jose answered with a powerplay goal with a minute and a half remaining in the first, and then added an even strength goal at 11:18 from the former Wild defenseman Brent Burns.
Heading into the third period, the Blues had played fairly well, but not enough to control the momentum. That changed 4:33 into the period, when Kent Huskins showed he cared enough to score his first goal as a Blue against his former team. Five minutes later, Alexander Steen scored his second of the season with assists from Kevin Shattenkirk and team points leader Jason Arnott. David Backes put icing on top of the cake with an empty net goal that sealed the comeback.
For the first time this season, the Blues were outshot buy their opponent 36-20, but thanks to some solid goaltending and a killer glove save by Brian Elliott in his debut, they were able to control the third period and the outcome of the game.
The Blues’ next game is tonight, with puck drop at 8:00 – right in the middle of the Cards’ possible series clinching game against the Brewers. Find a bar with both on TV somewhere, settle in, and get ready for a good night in St. Louis sports.