You can’t ever accuse the Blues of not trying. Down 3-2 heading into the third period, it appeared the odds were against them. Jaroslav Halak had been pulled, and some of their best players — like Alex Pietrangelo and Kevin Shattenkirk — didn’t seem to be 100% on their game. No worries, though, to a team who is a powerful force in the third period. The Blues answered back 14:10 into the last period with a Patrik Berglund tip-in that had to be reviewed to make sure that it wasn’t off of a high stick. Thankfully the tall Berglund was innocent, giving him his 13th goal of the season.
That more than made up for the five minute powerplay that the Blues managed just three shots on. Curtis Foster hit Chris Porter awkwardly into the boards, hurting the Blues’ forward around the eye area, and was given a boarding major and a game misconduct:
The Blues made it through the rest of a hectic third period and overtime to the shootout. Johan Hedberg has always been solid in these, and the Devils lead the league with 12 overtime/shootout wins, but tonight wouldn’t be their evening. T.J. Oshie scored past Hedberg on the Blues’ first try, and Elliott stopped attempts by Ilya Kovalchuk (technically a miss — terrible attempt by Kovy) and Patrik Elias.
The Blues are back in town both Saturday and Sunday, with back-to-back games against the Colorado Avalanche and the San Jose Sharks. Tonight’s win and Nashville’s loss helped give the Blues a bit of a comfort zone in tonight’s standings… at least for now.