The St. Louis Blues entered Saturday on a three-game winning streak. Each of the three wins came by a margin of five or more goals. The Carolina Hurricanes, in last place in the Eastern Conference, were next for the Blues in the second of a seven-game homestand. It was an easy spot for a let down. Carolina came in healthy and gave St. Louis fits, but the Blues (26-13-3) regrouped and gutted out a 5-4 victory on a T.J. Oshie goal in the shootout to extend their winning streak to four games. The Blues trailed 3-1 in the first period and 4-3 entering the third. After a lackluster first period that saw starting goalie Brian Elliott pulled from the game, the Blues needed a jump-start. Oshie shot first for the Blues and beat Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward for his first shootout goal of the season after starting 0-for-3. It was the only goal of the tiebreaker. Allen denied Hurricanes shooters Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal and Alexander Semin. The Blues thought they won the game on a Jay Bouwmeester goal with 1:52 left in overtime, but it was waved off because Patrik Berglund interfered with Ward. The Blues scored twice in 54 seconds in the second period to tie the game 3-3 on goals by Jaden Schwartz and Berglund. St. Louis captain David Backes had two assists. He has eight points in his past three games. Victor Rask and Skinner each had a goal and an assist, and Staal scored for the Hurricanes (13-24-5). Ward made 31 saves. Allen made 19 saves on 20 shots after relieving Elliott, who allowed three goals on 10 shots before being pulled. Vladimir Tarasenko tied the game for the third time when he scored his 23rd goal, which leads the Blues, at 6:46 of the third period. He received a stretch pass from defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk before beating Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason and Ward with a rebound goal off his initial shot to make it 4-4. Tarasenko and Shattenkirk were named as the Blues' representatives in the 2015 Honda NHL All-Star Game earlier Saturday. Riley Nash gave Carolina a 4-3 lead with 4:54 left in the second period off a scramble to the right of Allen. Schwartz got the Blues within 3-2 at 4:07 after picking off a pass in the Carolina zone, extending his point streak to four games (three goals, four assists). Berglund scored from the high slot past Ward as Steen screened the goalie at 5:01 to tie it 3-3. Rask's wrist shot from the left point caromed off Blues defenseman Chris Butler's left skate and through Elliott's pads 2:00 into the first period for a 1-0 Hurricanes lead. After Steen tied the game to extend his point streak to a career-best six games (four goals, eight assists) at 6:21, Skinner scored on a wrist shot from the slot at 7:43. Staal's breakaway goal gave Carolina a 3-1 lead at 12:42 after Shattenkirk fell trying to get back into coverage, and Elliott was replaced by Allen. Official Rob Martell was involved in a collision in the second period and did not return. He was being evaluated for an undisclosed injury.
Blues Quotes
Alexander Steen: "We weren't very good in the first, but basically just regrouped, took a breath and started fresh in the second period. We wanted to make sure we weren't going to treat [Jake Allen] the way we treated [Elliott] in the first."Alex Pietrangelo: "Just needed to get better. We knew we had to be better all-around starting in the D zone. We had to manage pucks better. We have a pretty mature group of taking ownership when we've got to be better. We all did that and got the result."
T.J. Oshie: "I usually don't celebrate after the goals, but 0-for-2, 0-for-3 before ... it was nice to get that one. "I've been so worried about the ice because the format now without the Zambonis coming out. I had to just go out there and try to make a good move and if it rolled, it rolled. [The puck] stayed flat for me, for the most part, and I was able to put it in."
Jake Allen: "You just have to relax. You have to be a realist; you’re not going to win every shootout, but I wish I could. I just go in there and have fun with it, try to be as patient as I can and let them make the first move."
Jay Bouwmeester: "I knew the goalie was off-balance, and he kind of hit somebody or just kind of fell over. That's the way it goes, doesn't matter. You just kind of regroup. There was only a minute and a half or something. We did a good job. We haven't had many shootouts this year. It's nice to win one."
Ken Hitchcock: "It was really good for Jake. Really good for Jake to come in and help us a little bit. It's a combination. It was anything I could do to try to change momentum. I switched [Paul] Stastny and [Jori] Lehtera and that seemed to work. Just anything we could do to change momentum."
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