Alexander Steen scored with 58.2 seconds remaining in overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 4-3 win against the Predators at Scottrade Center. Steen got a breakout pass through the Nashville zone from Paul Stastny and took a wrist shot past Nashville goalie Carter Hutton.
Dmitrij Jaskin had a goal and an assist, Kevin Shattenkirk and Robby Fabbri scored, and Jori Lehtera and Pietrangelo each had two assists for the Blues. Goalie Jake Allen made 30 saves to defeat the Predators for the third time this season, though the Predators got a point after trailing 3-1 with four minutes left in the third period. St. Louis, which has won six of eight, is an NHL-best 17-5-0 against the Western Conference.
St. Louis defeated Nashville 2-1 here on Dec. 17, but according to coach Ken Hitchcock, the Blues got too comfortable in this game. Mattias Ekholm had a goal and an assist, and Shea Weber and Colin Wilson scored for the Predators. Hutton made 21 saves; he is 0-2-3 lifetime against St. Louis. The Predators are 0-6 in overtime this season but were pleased to battle back and get a point being down two goals on the road on the second of back-to-back games.
Weber's 11th of the season cut the lead to 3-2 on a quick shot from the high slot after taking Roman Josi's feed with 3:52 remaining. Wilson collected a rebound and beat Allen with 1:32 remaining after the Predators pulled Hutton for an extra attacker.
Fabbri broke a 1-1 tie on a give-and-go play with Lehtera. Fabbri skated toward the slot and pulled the puck around sliding Seth Jones before beating Hutton five-hole 12:04 into the second period to give the Blues a 2-1 lead.
Shattenkirk gave the Blues a 3-1 lead when he took a breakout pass from Lehtera and beat Hutton with a slap shot from the top of the right circle 1:55 into the third period. Jaskin's first goal in 20 games put the Blues ahead 1-0. He was able to tip Jay Bouwmeester's shot on goal, then collect the rebound and backhand it past Hutton 9:38 into the first period.
The Predators tied it 1-1 on Ekholm's shorthanded goal, his first goal in 21 games. Fisher won an offensive-zone faceoff back to Ekholm, who seemed to catch Allen off-guard with a quick shot inside the near post at 14:00. Things looked good for the Blues after Shattenkirk's goal, but they caught themselves fending off a late Nashville push and had to refocus to get the second point. The Blues outshot the Predators 6-0 in overtime and had the majority of zone time.
Blues Quotes
Alexander Steen: "Yes, and a good first pass by [Alex Pietrangelo] to go to [Stastny] as opposed to me. And [Stastny], I knew he was coming to me. Nice play. We started with the puck, which is huge in OT and kind of waited for our chance to shoot, We didn't waste anything. For the most part, we were pretty good in OT. It's all puck possession."
Ken Hitchcock: "If you're sitting on the bench, you're hoping you get to the end of the buzzer because we weren't really in control of anything. Other than the first two-thirds of the first period, which was exceptional, we weren't in control of anything. We were trying to keep up to them and they were trying to keep up to us, but neither team was checking very well. Both teams looked like they were a little bit tired for whatever reason. When you come off your checking against that team, you're going to get beat."
"We had a great start and the first goal was exceptional, and then when we got scored on, we sagged, and it took us a whole [period] to catch it back up. Then when we started to play again, we started to play, but we were vulnerable defensively. We had too many just-abouts. We were vulnerable back there, so I think we became hesitant and when you become hesitant defensively, that's usually when you get in trouble."
Jake Allen: "The win's the win at the end of the day but to give up with five minutes left a two-goal lead and let them back in the game and give them hope, it's not the right thing to do and we all know that. You can't really say anything about it now, but we wish we could take those five minutes back and do it a little differently, but we got the win, we found a way, and move on to the next game."
Preds Quotes
Shea Weber: "It was good. It's a huge character [point], especially against a team that defends so well usually as a team. This team, when they get a lead, it's so hard because they collapse and they block a lot of shots. The way Allen's played against us this year too. I think that was the first time we've scored even strength on them this year, so to get two late, that's a big deal for us here and to get one point in a division game is big."Mike Fisher: "I think we were just pressing. We felt good about our game and we were getting pucks and getting chances. We felt like it was just a matter of time that we were going to get our break and we did. ... We ended up with those last two goals, which were key."
No comments:
Post a Comment