Well, that certainly was unexpected. The Blues haven’t exactly been involved in many high scoring games this season, especially since Ken Hitchcock has taken over the wheel. They also haven’t been solid in games where they’ve been down after two periods — but just because a team hasn’t played well in a certain situation in the past doesn’t mean that they won’t play well there in the future. Tonight’s a great indication of that.
Alexander Steen started off the third period scoring less than a minute in with an equalizer goal past an unawares Steve Mason. The puck was batted down to Steen by Oshie, and the Jackets attempted an argument that the puck was played with a high stick to no avail.
Jason Arnott, who was sick and scratched last night with the flu scored next on a nifty behind the net pass from David Perron:
Alex Pietrangelo broke his season high point-less streak at nine games with this nasty snipe which completely caught Mason off-guard:
When the Blues and their fans felt complacent enough, Derick Brassard decided to exact some revenge for the hitting and chirping that he took exception to earlier in the match. He has been a healthy scratch often enough this season for his agent Alan Walsh to complain about it on Twitter — but a better way to get out of the pressbox is to score.
The Jackets pulled a last minute desperation move of pulling Mason (which may or may not be the same as leaving him in), and the Blues made them pay on an empty-net goal for Patrik Berglund. That was Berglund’s 8th of the year, and tonight eleven different Blues wound up on the scorecard.
The Blues’ next game is Wednesday night in Colorado. Tonight’s win sees the Blues at a 19-9-4 record with 42 points. That’s good enough for fourth place in the Western Conference and second in the Central Division.