Patrik Berglund scored the only goal of the shootout in the 11th round and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 at Canadian Tire Centre.
After 10 scoreless rounds, Blues goalie Jake Allen stopped Senators defenseman Cody Ceci in the top of the 11th before Berglund scored on a shot that beat Senators goalie Andrew Hammond on his glove side.
The Blues saw the Senators rally from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game on a pair of goals by Jean-Gabriel Pageau in the final 2:41 of the third period, the second with one-tenth of a second remaining. Jaden Schwartz finished with a goal and two assists. Schwartz, who missed 49 games this season with an ankle injury, scored his fifth goal of the season and has nine points (five goals, four assists) in 10 games since returning on Feb. 12.
Dmitrij Jaskin and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored, Kevin Shattenkirk had two assists, and Allen made 40 saves for St. Louis, which got the two points after failing to hold a 3-0 lead in the second period. Schwartz took part in the ninth round of the shootout and was stopped by Hammond; he replaced starter Craig Anderson, who left with a lower-body injury in the second period. Senators coach Dave Cameron said there would be an update on Anderson’s injury Wednesday.
St. Louis won a second straight game after ending a three-game losing streak against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, but coach Ken Hitchcock wasn’t happy with the way the Blues traded chances. Ryan Dzingel scored for Ottawa, and Anderson made 28 saves on 31 shots before leaving the game at 13:41 of the second period. Hammond made 17 saves, including two on the same breakaway; the first on a shot by Tarasenko and the second on the follow-up rebound by Berglund. Both saves temporarily preserved a 3-1 lead with eight minutes remaining in the third.
The Senators, 5-1-1 in their past seven games, are five points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card spot into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Jaskin opened the scored at 3:36 of the first period when he scored on a rebound off of an initial shot from Schwartz. It was the 43rd time this season the Senators gave up the first goal. Schwartz's power-play goal at 12:53 made it 2-0. Tarasenko made it 3-0 at 10:38 of the second period when he circled out of the corner to Anderson's left on the power play and scored with a shot under the crossbar.
Dzingel scored at 12:32 of the second from the edge of the crease after Allen failed to make a save off of a shot from the point by Senators defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Pageau scored from a sharp angle with a shot that went in off Allen’s right hip with 2:41 left in the third period to make it 3-2. He tied it with the Senators on the power play and Hammond on the bench for an extra attacker.
Blues Quotes
Jake Allen: “Nothing changes for me. Just try and stay patient, be big and let them make the first move. Sometimes you go in those shootouts and you get seven or eight goals on 11 shots, this one there’s no goals on either side. It’s just the way she goes.”Jaden Schwartz: “It was different. I don’t think I’ve been part of a shootout that long with no goals. Just great goaltending. There wasn’t a whole lot. They cut off the angles good, the dekes weren’t really open. They did a good job. The ice didn’t help, either. Berglund, that play I think was to just shoot it and try and pick a corner and he did a good job.”
“That’s not ideal, giving up a two-goal lead there, but they had a good push. A goal with less than a second left, those are always tough to give up. Jake was awesome. If it wasn’t for him, especially late, we probably wouldn’t have got the two points. Obviously in the shootout he made 12 saves or whatever it was and then in overtime some big, big saves. Jake held us in there after it was 3-3.”Ken Hitchcock: “We got sucked into the track meet and that’s the second or third time we’ve done that in the last couple of weeks.”
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