NHL - Blues - Round Up December 19-22, 2016

Edmonton Oilers @ Blues 3-2 OT - Monday, December 19, 2016


Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored with 2:05 remaining in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 3-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center. 
Nugent-Hopkins took a feed from Connor McDavid after the Blues were caught having to make a line change off a 3-on-2 when left wing Robby Fabbri fell in the offensive zone, which enabled Oilers defenseman Andrej Sekera to spring McDavid for the odd-man rush. Tyler Pitlick scored for the Oilers (17-12-5), who opened a three-game road trip. Pitlick was injured with 4:26 remaining in the second while going into the corner with Blues center Jori Lehtera.

Patrick Maroon also scored and Cam Talbot made 25 saves. Kyle Brodziak and Vladimir Tarasenko scored for St. Louis (17-11-5). Carter Hutton made 32 saves. Maroon tied it 2-2 at 5:47 of the third period when he redirected Brandon Davidson's wrist shot from the right point. Edmonton almost won it with 36 seconds left after a Hutton giveaway, but Milan Lucic's shot hit the outside of the net. Brodziak gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 4:20 of the first period on a shot from the high slot. Pitlick tied it 1-1 after a faceoff win and quick shot from the left circle at 11:44, but Tarasenko put St. Louis back in front 33 seconds later.

* Tarasenko's sharp-angle shot in the left circle after collecting Fabbri's rebound gave the Blues a 2-1 lead at 12:17 of the first period.

* The Blues were buzzing in the first and Talbot came up huge against Ryan Reaves' tip in front to keep it a 1-0 game with 12:28 remaining in the period.

* Once the speedy Oilers saw the chance, Sekera moved the puck quickly to McDavid, who passed and created some traffic in front for Nugent-Hopkins to win the game from the slot.

* Maroon, a St. Louis native, not only scored the game-tying goal with his grit in front of the net, outworking Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, he also tied for the team-lead in shots with four, had four hits and one faceoff win in 17:24 of ice time.

* McLellan said Pitlick (lower-body injury) will miss some time. "He's got to be re-evaluated, but right now it doesn't look too good," McLellan said. ... McDavid (40 points) still leads Tarasenko (38 points) for the NHL points lead after each got one point Monday.

"I thought we had some people (play determined) today; we just don't have enough. They're a big team. They're big, they're fast, they're physical. You've got to have fight in you. I thought we had some guys that really brought it today. I thought we had some really good performances today, but if you're going to beat a team like Edmonton, you're going to have to have everybody on board. We didn't." Ken Hitchcock said.

"It's like the same story this year; (we) just haven't really been putting up 'W's. It's tough." Carter Hutton

Blues @ Stars 3-2 OT - Tuesday, December 20, 2016

David Perron scored 1:55 into overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center. Perron scored on a wraparound after Stars goalie Antti Niemi was caught out of position. The win came less than 24 hours after the Blues lost to Edmonton Oilers 3-2 in overtime at home. Jake Allen made 36 saves for St. Louis (18-11-5). Dallas (13-14-7) is 1-7 in overtime. Patrick Eaves gave Dallas a 1-0 lead on the power play at 7:04 of the first period. Eaves beat Allen with a wrist shot from the face-off circle after a pass from Jason Spezza. St. Louis tied the game 1-1 at 11:15. Schwartz scored his 12th of the season after a shot by Paul Stastny deflected off the skate of Stars defenseman Johnny Oduya and caught Niemi out of position.

Dallas took a 2-1 lead at 18:36 of the second period when Spezza scored on a rebound. Jiri Hudler took the shot and got his second assist of the season.
Patrik Berglund tied the game at 2-2 53 seconds later on a backhand. The Stars challenged the play for goalie interference after Perron made contact with Niemi, but it was ruled Oduya pushed the Blues forward into the goalie. Oduya hit the crossbar at 11:59 of the third period. Niemi made 19 saves.

* Perron scored his first NHL overtime goal, in his 604th game.

* Allen lost his balance but recovered to make a diving save on Adam Cracknell at 13:54 of the second period. As Allen fell, he reached back and was able to smother the shot after Cracknell drove around a defender.

* Berglund's goal was the quick response St. Louis needed after Dallas took a 2-1 lead. Berglund picked the corner with a backhand for his fifth goal of the season.

* Allen made two saves on Spezza with eight seconds and four seconds remaining in the third period.

* Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (illness) was scratched. … Stastny sustained an upper-body injury in the third period.

Blues Quotes

"I kind of go around Niemi there and I'm thinking I might be able to wrap it short side, and then to leave and go to the other side, it was a little bit risky. I'm glad it went in." Perron said.

"Yeah, I think those (past) losses were inexcusable, they were disappointing and they weren't us. I think this game meant a lot for our team. I can just tell by the way the guys feel after the game, and during the middle of the second period going into the third, it meant a lot, and being able to come out on top was really big." said Allen
"This is one of these you chalk up, these are one of these travel games that you're hoping and praying that you're going to get points from. To collect two points is a good feeling, to get two points in a game like this … especially with the emotion of the game yesterday, is pretty good." Ken Hitchcock

Stars Quotes

"I saw a guy in the crease. I knew it was going to be a tough one, but I saw a guy in the crease and I just felt [Niemi] wasn't quite able to make the move to make that save. But I knew it was going to be a tough one."
"It seems to be the story of our year, where a little bit of puck luck would have went our way. We hit a couple of posts and a crossbar, obviously had the better chances. We didn't give up a lot. Just besides the one play at the side of the net in the third period, we hadn't given up much, but until we start cashing in on some of our opportunities … . We let them hang around, and it hurt us." Lindy Ruff said.

Blues @ Tampa Bay Lightning 2-5 - Thursday, December 22, 2016


The Tampa Bay Lightning scored the final five goals in a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Amalie Arena. Jonathan Drouin scored twice, and Brian Boyle, Michael Bournival and Alex Killorn scored for the Lightning (17-14-3). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves in his first start since Ben Bishop was injured. Killorn broke a 2-2 tie 5:25 into the third period. His 11th goal of the season was a wrist shot from inside center point that beat Blues goalie Jake Allen on the stick side. David Perron and Wade Megan scored for the Blues (18-12-5), who are 5-10-1 on the road this season. Allen made 27 saves but was injured trying to make a save on Drouin's first goal and was replaced by Carter Hutton with 1:40 remaining in the third period. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said he did not believe Allen's injury was serious. St. Louis does not play again until Dec. 28 against the Philadelphia Flyers. Perron gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 14:11 of the first period when he capitalized on a Tampa Bay turnover in its zone. He stepped in front of a pass by Brayden Point and beat Vasilevskiy with a backhand to the top of the net. Megan, a 26-year-old making his NHL debut, scored on his first shot to give the Blues a 2-0 lead at 14:43. Vasilevskiy made a save on a shot from Ryan Reaves but the puck rolled out in the slot, where Megan scored on the follow up.

Boyle made it 2-1 with a power-play goal at 9:48 of the second period. Bournival tied it 2-2 at 17:27 with his first goal since Feb. 24, 2015; he redirected a shot from Jason Garrison. Drouin made it 4-2 when he beat Allen with a backhand off a pass from Valtteri Filppula, and scored an empty-net goal with 31 seconds left.

* Filppula put a move on Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and split his legs with a pass that left Drouin 1-on-1 with Allen, who seemed to injure his lower body trying to reach back for a save.

* The Blues made a push in the third period after Killorn's goal gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead, but Vasilevskiy scrambled to cover an open net and stop a tip-in by Patrik Berglund at 9:32.

* Bournival arrived in Tampa at 2:30 p.m. after playing for Syracuse in the American Hockey League on Wednesday. He played 12:51 over 19 shifts, had three shots and was plus-1.

"When you get the chance to be in the NHL, there's nothing that stops you from finding the energy," Bournival said. "I found my energy [Thursday] and just need it to keep it going for [Friday]."

* Killorn showed patience on his goal as he skated from the right to center point and took a wrist shot while Tyler Johnson and Point set screens in front of Allen.

* Perron scored his 150th NHL goal (93rd with St. Louis). … Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov played 18 of 19 shifts at forward on a line with J.T. Brown and Bournival. … Bishop (lower body) is expected to be out 3-4 weeks.

"[Problems on the road] is a competitive issue, isn't it? It's our job to figure it out. The game is 60 minutes, you [have] to play 60 minutes and we didn't."
"We had a good start to the third period and then we got scored on. When it was 3-2 we got a little bit of a push but not near enough." Hitchcock said.
"Obviously [the goal] would have felt a lot better after a win. We just had to bear down a little bit more in the second and third and we lost some key battles. We just have to move forward." Megan said.