Calgary Flames @ Blues 3-2 - Saturday, March 25, 2017
The Calgary Flames are three points out of first place in the Pacific Division after Sean Monahan scored with 2.5 seconds left in overtime to give them a 3-2 victory against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center. Monahan's centering pass went in off Blues forward Kyle Brodziak's skate to win it. Troy Brouwer and Matt Bartkowski each scored on the power play, and former St. Louis goalie Brian Elliott made 29 saves for Calgary (42-29-4), which went 1-2-0 on a three-game road trip. The Flames trail the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers by three points in the race for first in the Pacific. They lead the Blues by two points for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Elliott, who spent the past five seasons with St. Louis, is 13-1-1 in his past 15 starts with a 1.86 goals-against average and .937 save percentage. Ivan Barbashev and Jaden Schwartz scored, and Jake Allen made 28 saves for the Blues (40-28-6), who lost for the first time in five games. St. Louis trails the Nashville Predators by one point for third place in the Central Division and leads the Los Angeles Kings by nine points for the second wild card.
Brouwer, who played for the Blues last season, put the Flames ahead 1-0 on a shot from the right faceoff circle that appeared to hit defenseman Jay Bouwmeester's stick and go over Allen at 17:11 of the first period. The Blues tied it 1-1 when Barbashev stayed with his own rebound and scored from the slot at 8:08 of the second period. Schwartz put the Blues on top 2-1 at 7:16 of the third period after following up a point shot, but Bartkowski tied it 2-2 when his shot from the left circle went in off Bouwmeester's skate at 10:53. Mikael Backlund had a chance to win it for the Flames in overtime, but his shot hit the post with 2:47 remaining.
* Allen made a right-pad save on Monahan from point-blank range off a Johnny Gaudreau pass with 1:45 remaining in overtime.
* Flames defenseman Deryk Engelland kept the game 1-1 when he blocked Barbashev's shot at 4:53 of the third period with Elliott out of position following a save on a Bouwmeester shot. Engelland had four blocked shots and four hits in 16:39.
* Flames left wing Matthew Tkachuk returned after missing two games because of a suspension for a hit on Kings defenseman Drew Doughty last Sunday. ... Gaudreau has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) the past 10 games. ... Monahan has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) the past 11 games.
"It was a tough trip. All these teams are in the hunt and on top of their game right now. Getting this was big for us. Every game is going to be big but one at a time, and this one was one of them." Elliott said.
"They had the puck a lot [in overtime]. It's tough when all three goals go in off your own guys. You feel bad for Jake, who played the way he did. If you're going to give up three goals off your own guys, it means probably for the most part you're doing a good job defensively." Alex Pietrangelo said.
"It's hockey [on having three goals go in off teammates]. Unlucky bounces. We got a point, moved ahead. Positive. Didn't go backwards." Jake Allen.
Phoenix Coyotes @ Blues 1-4 - Monday, March 27, 2017
The St. Louis Blues stayed one point out of third place in the Central Division with a 4-1 victory against the Coyotes at Scottrade Center. The Blues (41-28-6) are one point behind the Nashville Predators in the division. Nashville defeated the New York Islanders 3-1 on Monday. St. Louis remained two points behind the Calgary Flames for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference with seven games remaining. The Flames defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Monday.
Jaden Schwartz had two goals and an assist, Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists, Alexander Steen had an NHL career-high four assists, and Jake Allen made 21 saves. He is 7-0-0 against the Coyotes. The Schwartz-Steen-Tarasenko line combined for 10 points (three goals, seven assists) and got the Blues going after a slow start. Anthony DeAngelo scored and Mike Smith made 24 saves for Phoenix (27-40-9), which is 1-5-1 in the past seven games and ended a five-game road trip 1-4-0. Schwartz's third goal in four games came off a pass by Steen at 7:53 of the second period to put the Blues ahead 1-0. Alex Pietrangelo tied his NHL career-high with his 12th goal at 12:28 to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. DeAngelo made it 2-1 1:01 into the third period. Schwartz's second of the game came at 10:06 to make it 3-1, and Tarasenko scored at 18:11 to make it 4-1.
* Allen made consecutive saves on Christian Dvorak with 4:46 left in the second period, then extended the glove on Max Domi's rebound with 4:41 left to keep it 2-0.
* It could have been a bigger night for the Schwartz-Steen-Tarasenko line, but Smith denied Steen's effort with an outstretched glove with 19:33 remaining in the game, moments before DeAngelo got the Coyotes back in it to make it 2-1.
* Blues left wing Nail Yakupov extended his assist streak to three games, had three shots and was plus-1 in 14:16 ice time.
* The Blues have won 10 straight and have points in 14 straight (13-0-1) against the Coyotes. … Arizona left wing Clayton Keller, selected by the Coyotes with the No. 7 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft, made his debut. A native of Swansea, Illinois, Keller finished with 14:09 of ice time.
"I thought after the first period, we started working a lot harder. I think we've had our fair share of chances in the recent last few games here and have hit posts and goalies made some saves, but tonight, we kind of turned it in our favor and got some bounces for us." Steen said.
"We weren't good in the first [period], that's for sure, and what you hope is you go in and you challenge the group to be better from that point. What you hope is the response starts from your leaders, and we got that." Mike Yeo said.
"It's that time of the year. Everyone knows how big these points are and everyone wants to keep moving up and there's teams on everyone's heels, that's just how it is this time of year." Jaden Schwartz
Blues @ Phoenix Coyotes 3-1 - Wednesday, March 29, 2017
The St. Louis Blues moved into third place in the Central Division with a 3-1 win against the Coyotes at Gila River Arena. Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Tarasenko and David Perron scored, and Carter Hutton made 22 saves for the Blues (42-28-6), who lead the Nashville Predators by one point for third in the Central. Each team has six games remaining. St. Louis has won six of seven games and is 11-1-1 in its past 13, allowing 19 goals over that span. The Blues allowed two goals in sweeping three games from the Coyotes in the past 12 days to increase their winning streak against Phoenix to 11 and point streak to 15 (14-0-1). Hutton has seven of his 12 wins and all four of his shutouts on the road. Alex Goligoski scored a power-play goal, and Louis Domingue made 40 saves for the Coyotes (27-41-9), who have lost four straight games and seven of eight (1-6-1). Coyotes forward Clayton Keller earned his first NHL point with an assist on Goligoski's goal. Berglund gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 9:16 of the first period, taking a Magnus Paajarvi pass and shooting over Domingue for his 22nd goal, tying his NHL career high. Tarasenko scored his eighth goal in the past 12 games at 2:25 of the second, putting in the rebound of a Jay Bouwmeester shot to make it 2-0. Goligoski got the Coyotes within 2-1 when he scored at 14:37 of the third, 1:26 after Paajarvi was called for high sticking against him. Perron scored into an empty net with 19.8 seconds left to make it 3-1.
* Tarasenko found just enough room under Domingue's arm from the bottom of the left faceoff circle to put the Blues ahead by two with his 36th goal, fourth-most in the NHL.
* Hutton got his left pad on Tobias Rieder's low shot on a breakaway at 3:09 of the third period.
* Blues forward Ryan Reaves had two shots on goal, four hits and three blocked shots in 10:53.
* Mike Yeo is 18-7-1 since taking over for Ken Hitchcock as Blues coach Feb. 1.
* St. Louis has won nine straight games in Phoenix, with their last loss coming March 22, 2011.
"When we played 5-on-5 hockey, I thought we dominated pretty well. They had some looks. They are a good team. It was similar to what I saw the last two games with them (when Jake Allen was in goal for St. Louis). You know they will get their chances, and it was a matter of being ready." Carter Hutton
"We want to make the playoffs, but more importantly we want to make sure we're a good team going in. We got the win, but there are areas that we have to be better at going into the next game."
"We keep throwing [Hutton] out there on the road and he was really good again. He had a few sneaky, strong saves tonight if you go back and watch the tape … traffic in front of the net and he reaches up and picks up a shot that is labeled for the corner. His puck poise and execution helping our [defense] get out of the zone was real strong too." Yeo said.
Blues @ Colorado Avalanche 1-2 SO - Friday, March 31, 2017
The St. Louis Blues clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-1 shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center. The Blues (42-28-7) needed one point to qualify for their sixth consecutive trip to the postseason and 41st in their 50-year history. They have a two-point lead over the Nashville Predators for third place in the Central Division. Each has five games remaining.
The Blues, who are 6-0-2 in their past eight games, host the Predators on Sunday. Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon scored against Jake Allen in the shootout, and J.T. Compher scored in the second period for the Avalanche (21-53-3), who ended a seven-game losing streak. Calvin Pickard, who stopped Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko for the Avalanche, had 27 saves. Allen made 31 saves. Ryan Reaves gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with his fifth goal at 12:29 of the first period. Kyle Brodziak won a faceoff in the right circle and drew the puck back to Jordan Schmaltz, who passed down the right-wing boards to Scottie Upshall for a shot that Reaves tipped past Pickard. The Avalanche tied the game 1-1 at 11:49 of the second period on a power-play goal by Compher, who put in the rebound of MacKinnon's shot.
* MacKinnon used his speed and stickhandling ability to weave through the Blues defense before shooting against Allen. Compher was in good position on the left side to score his third goal of the season.
"We got three out of four [points] on this road trip. I don't think we can in any way be happy with the way the game went tonight, but we were able to get a point. Bottom line is we got enough to get into the playoffs."
"We wanted to get into the playoffs, that was goal No. 1, and we're there now and it's something we should be pleased about. Now we want to make sure we're on top of our game and we're in a good spot when we go in. We recognize as a group we need to be better than tonight."
"It'll be a fun game. I'm glad that we're playing big, meaningful games at this time of the year. Hard games force you to be at your best and it challenges us to get better as a group. We're happy that we got in, we're not happy with this game and that's the process that we've been trying to follow the last couple of months, that we're trying to get better every day." Mike Yeo said.
"I think we came out hungry for the two points and hungry for the playoffs, but once we got the lead we started coasting a little bit. When you do that against teams that are trying to show for next year, they bury you. It's obviously a huge point for us getting in the playoffs. Looking back at where we were a couple months ago, I think we've played a lot of good hockey." Reaves said.
* MacKinnon used his speed and stickhandling ability to weave through the Blues defense before shooting against Allen. Compher was in good position on the left side to score his third goal of the season.
* Allen denied Mikko Rantanen on a breakaway with 31.5 seconds left in overtime after Rantanen stole the puck from Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.
* Pickard was at the top of his crease when he moved to his right to make a pad stop against Blues forward Jaden Schwartz with two seconds to play in overtime.
* Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson had seven blocked shots and four shots on goal while playing 21:23, nearly four minutes more than his season average.
* Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo sustained an upper-body injury in the second period and didn't return. Yeo said he would have an update Saturday ... Jost, who was Colorado's first-round pick (No. 10) in the 2016 NHL Draft, played 13:25 while centering for Matt Nieto and Rene Bourque. He had two shots, won five of 10 faceoffs, and was stopped in the second round of the shootout ... Schmaltz, in his fourth NHL game, had a first-period assist for his first NHL point.
"We got three out of four [points] on this road trip. I don't think we can in any way be happy with the way the game went tonight, but we were able to get a point. Bottom line is we got enough to get into the playoffs."
"We wanted to get into the playoffs, that was goal No. 1, and we're there now and it's something we should be pleased about. Now we want to make sure we're on top of our game and we're in a good spot when we go in. We recognize as a group we need to be better than tonight."
"It'll be a fun game. I'm glad that we're playing big, meaningful games at this time of the year. Hard games force you to be at your best and it challenges us to get better as a group. We're happy that we got in, we're not happy with this game and that's the process that we've been trying to follow the last couple of months, that we're trying to get better every day." Mike Yeo said.
"I think we came out hungry for the two points and hungry for the playoffs, but once we got the lead we started coasting a little bit. When you do that against teams that are trying to show for next year, they bury you. It's obviously a huge point for us getting in the playoffs. Looking back at where we were a couple months ago, I think we've played a lot of good hockey." Reaves said.
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