It’s become nice to watch a Blues game and not feel horribly worried going into the third period; fans don’t have to be arrogant, but confident that the Blues can pull one out. That’s exactly what they did tonight, helping them get to 93 points for the first time in over a decade.
Patrik Berglund scored what would be the game winning goal at 4:47 of the third period, but frankly 95% of this goal was one perfect pass from Andy McDonald. McDonald is absolutely lethal on-ice, and he was very much creating chances all game long tonight.
David Backes looked to have deflected his second of the night a little over ten minutes later off of a Kevin Shattenkirk slapper, but the goal was awarded to Shattenkirk due to the fact that the puck deflected in off of Sheldon Brookbank’s stick, not Backes’. It was the Blues’ second power play goal of the night; they were two for four with the one man advantage.
Last period shots were actually in the Ducks’ favor, 10-7. They pressed, because every point is so important to their playoff push. They didn’t get two tonight, but Jaroslav Halak’s 26 saves helped the Blues move to first in the NHL by themselves. A former Blues goaltender, Ben Bishop, was in net as the Ottawa Senators knocked off the New York Rangers 4-2, so the Blues are, for right now, the best in the League.