Vancouver Canucks goalie Eddie Lack had given up three goals in seven minutes and blown a three-goal lead in the third period. The St. Louis Blues rang two shots off the posts behind him in overtime. And then, Lack was staring down T.J. Oshie in the shootout. Lack stayed with Oshie through a couple of hard fakes, finally throwing out the left pad to deny the Blues forward in tight. It was the only save of the shootout, and it was enough to give the Canucks a wild 6-5 win at Rogers Arena on Sunday. The appeared to be a lot of defining moments between the Blues and Canucks, but each one was answered as they took turns coughing up leads. Forward Chris Higgins finally gave the Canucks a lead they couldn't relinquish, scoring in third round of the shootout after Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata also beat Jake Allen. St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock was impressed his team did the same to earn one point after falling behind 5-2 early in the third period. Ryan Reaves and Alex Pietrangelo staked the Blues to an early lead despite playing the night before, but it didn't last long; the Canucks scored five straight before collapsing themselves in the third period. Shawn Matthias and Yannick Weber started the comeback in the first period, Jannik Hansen and Henrik Sedin put the Canucks ahead in the second and Bonino made it 5-2 six minutes into the third. Dmitrij Jaskin started the comeback with a power-play goal 8:18 into the third period, and Petteri Lindholm and David Backes scored 1:12 apart with five minutes left to help the Blues rally late. It wasn't an easy night to be a goaltender. Allen gave up four goals on 21 shots through two periods before being pulled in favor of No. 1 Brian Elliott to start the third period. But Elliott, who backstopped a 2-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, left again after Bonino's goal. After coming out for a brief conversation with Hitchcock behind the bench, Elliott spent the rest of the game back in the dressing room. Hitchcock insisted it was his decision. Hitchcock also downplayed what appeared to be Elliott pushing the coach's hand away as he left the ice after being pulled. Allen returned and made another four saves, including a breakaway stop on Bo Horvat with 2:22 left. The Blues (40-18-5) pulled within four points of the Nashville Predators in the Central Division. Lack finished with 34 saves in his third straight start since No. 1 Ryan Miller injured his right knee. Vancouver (36-23-3) moved five points ahead of the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings for second place in the Pacific Division. Reaves opened the scoring 3:02 into the game after a nice cycle by fellow fourth-liners Marcel Goc and Steve Ott, and Pietrangelo doubled the lead three minutes later off the rush. Coming off a tough five-game road trip and still missing seven injured regulars, the Canucks got back into the game 85 seconds later when Matthias finished a 2-on-1 pass from Higgins for his 16th goal of the season. Weber tied it 2:16 later with a point shot through traffic. Lack, who was beaten by two of the first five shots he faced, kept it tied with a head-first diving save off Jaden Schwartz, and Hansen gave Vancouver its first lead after Allen misplayed a sharp angle backhand into his own net midway through the second period. It sounded like a whistle had blown before the puck finally trickled in over the goal line. Replays showed Allen knocked the puck into his own net. The officials huddled and determined the original shot crossed the line and video review supported that decision. Henrik Sedin knocked in a rebound to make it 4-2 with 2:08 left in the period, but two minutes after Bonino scored the fifth goal, Jaskin started the comeback into an empty net on a power play. Lindholm kept it going after a nice passing play off the rush by Vladimir Tarasenko and Schwartz. Backes tied it after a nice pass from behind the net from Oshie, who had three assists, jamming the puck past Lack.
Blues Quotes
Ken Hitchcock: "A lesser team would have folded it up. but we came back and pounded on it hard in the third period and then should have won it in overtime with the two we drilled by him and hit the post. We played a whale of a hockey game. We did a heck of a job. I was thinking, 'Now all I need to do is get him hurt. I put (Elliott) in because I thought we had a great spirit going into the third period and we had a chance to win a hockey game. He was mad he was coming out. I told him, 'Just relax.' Our leaders led and then when things were not going well they pulled more guys into the fight. They didn't let people leave the battlefield, which was really impressive. They kept playing and more guys got dragged in and we seemed to get a second wind."David Backes: "It was time to either put up or shut up. We had some great plays by some guys to find open bodies and then to finish in the back of the net. Not goals that are necessarily highlights but effective, hardnosed plays. We should a lot of character battling back."
Jake Allen: "I've never experienced that [going back in]. Really weird, odd, felt a little uncomfortable and obviously I am usually pretty good in shootouts. I was just sort of mentally out of it a bit. Juggled it, kicked it into my net. That's a goal that should never go in in this League, not much more I can say. I thought the whistle was blown, but I didn't know where the puck was."
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