When Brian Elliott heard the names Mike Liut, Grant Fuhr and Curtis Joseph introduced pregame, he took it upon himself to make St. Louis Blues goalies proud he's one of them. Elliott made an NHL career-high 46 saves on "Goalies Night," and Jori Lehtera capped a 4-3 victory against the Montreal Canadiens by scoring 2:04 into overtime at Scottrade Center. Elliott wore a themed Joseph "Cujo" 1990s retro mask; he has been wearing the Joseph-style blue pads and mitts. The 46 saves were the most by a Blues goalie at home since Joseph had that many on April 11, 1993.
Robby Fabbri intercepted Andrei Markov's backhand pass, then thwarted Markov before going down to a knee. Lehtera collected the loose puck and slid a shot through the pads of Canadiens goalie Mike Condon. Fabbri had a goal and an assist, and Paul Stastny and Ty Rattie scored for St. Louis.
Elliott was pulled in the third period Thursday after allowing three goals to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Max Pacioretty had a goal and an assist, P.K. Subban and Tomas Plekanec scored for the Canadiens, who got 18 saves from Condon. Montreal ends a two-game trip Sunday at the Chicago Blackhawks. Plekanec gave Montreal a 3-2 lead with a shot from the high slot off Pacioretty's feed with 6:09 remaining, but Rattie answered for the Blues with his second NHL goal 44 seconds later on a shot from the slot off Mark Barberio's stick to tie it 3-3.
Despite being outshot 17-9 in the first period, the Blues took a 1-0 lead on Fabbri's 11th of the season at 34 seconds. Elliott made several outstanding saves to keep the Canadiens from scoring. The Canadiens challenged for goalie interference but Fabbri's goal was upheld after review. Lehtera was at the top of the crease battling with Alexei Emelin. The second period had three goals and 38 minutes in penalties.
The Canadiens took a 2-1 lead when Subban's power-play goal at the end of Montreal's fourth man-advantage deflected off Vladimir Tarasenko's stick at 3:41 to tie the game, and then Pacioretty's shot from close range at 10:24 gave the Canadiens the lead. Stastny made it 2-2 1:07 later when Colton Parayko's wrist shot from the blue line made it through bodies in front of Condon and went off Stastny. It was his first goal since Dec. 15 (14 games).
The Blues killed six of seven power plays through two periods, including five in the second period and two short 5-on-3s. The Canadiens held a 39-16 edge in shots on goal through two periods. They had 22 in the second, which is the most the Blues have allowed in a period this season. Alexander Steen (mouth) was in the Blues lineup after he did not take part in the morning skate and Hitchcock said he would be out.
Blues Quotes
Brian Elliott: "When those guys are watching, you kind of want to play good out there. I had a couple two-pad stacks in pregame warmup, kind of channeling from the mask a little bit. It was special for me to play in front of those guys. I watched a lot of games. I was outside playing street hockey pretending I was them a lot of years, and for them to be here and watch this game, it meant a lot to me. Guys coming through and getting the [win] was pretty special. Luckily I think the longest they had on the 5-on-3 was 18 seconds and then 15."Jori Lehtera: "I actually think [Fabbri] just fell down there. He tried to take the puck from me, but otherwise great play."
David Backes: "It seems fitting on "Goalies Night" that he put on quite a show. He did a heck of a job, kept us in it. It's about time we reward him with some effort to make good on all of his great efforts.... He's the guy you (media) should have these microphones in front of because he should be the first, second and third star."
Ken Hitchcock: "He was good. He was good. Had to be. ... [Elliott] was good tonight. Montreal's on the verge of winning quite a few games if they play like this. Their team's healthy now. They've got their team that was at the start of the year back together now and they're playing well."
Penalties
| 2nd Period | ||
|---|---|---|
| 00:59 STL | Chris Butler Delaying Game-Puck over glass | |
| 02:41 STL | Paul Stastny Tripping against Alex Galchenyuk | |
| 07:21 MTL | Alexei Emelin Holding against Ty Rattie | |
| 13:01 MTL | Max Pacioretty Roughing against Troy Brouwer | |
| 13:01 MTL | Tomas Plekanec Roughing against David Backes | |
| 13:01 MTL | Brendan Gallagher Roughing against Alex Pietrangelo | |
| 13:01 STL | Troy Brouwer Roughing against Max Pacioretty | |
| 13:01 STL | Alex Pietrangelo Roughing against Brendan Gallagher | |
| 13:01 STL | David Backes Roughing against Tomas Plekanec | |
| 13:01 STL | David Backes Roughing against Tomas Plekanec | |
| 15:56 STL | Alex Pietrangelo Roughing against Alexei Emelin | |
| 17:41 STL | Kevin Shattenkirk Roughing against Tomas Plekanec | |
| 17:41 STL | Kevin Shattenkirk Roughing against Tomas Plekanec | |
| 17:41 MTL | Tomas Plekanec Roughing against Kevin Shattenkirk | |
| 17:41 STL | Kevin Shattenkirk Misconduct (10 min) | |
No comments:
Post a Comment