The St. Louis Blues defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 at Nationwide Arena to move into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko scored, and Jake Allen made 33 saves for the Blues, who have won five games in a row and handed the Blue Jackets their first loss in 11 games.
St. Louis (42-28-5) and the Anaheim Ducks each have 89 points, but the Blues hold the second wild card because they have more regulation/overtime wins (39-34). They are one point behind the Colorado Avalanche for the first wild card.
"It's complete desperation on our part, like the season's on the line, so the challenge for us is to make sure that doesn't change," St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said.
"I couldn't care less that it's come to an end," Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said of their winning streak. "I'm disappointed we didn't get the two points. That's the part that stings. We're not going to let this one bother us too much."
The Blues were coming off a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. The Blue Jackets defeated the Florida Panthers 4-0 on Thursday.
"We knew they were going to come," Steen said. "We had a plan for it. The big difference was [Allen] was tremendous."
Steen gave the Blues a 1-0 lead three minutes into the game on their first shot. He took a pass from behind the net by Patrik Berglund and scored from the right face-off circle.
"I knew the week ahead I was going to play both games," he said. "Honestly, you have to prepare during the week because it's an extra start. A little more sleep, a little more rest."
Allen was on his game early, making a glove save on Markus Nutivaara on a backdoor play at 5:14.
"I knew where he was shooting. I just put my glove there," Allen said.
He then made the save against Artemi Panarin on a breakaway at 10:23 of the first.
"He's one of the best players in the League," Allen said. "He has a lot of moves in his bags of tricks. I tried to be patient. He's beaten me on the backhand before. I sort of stayed with it and stuck out my pad."
Tarasenko scored from the high slot at 9:37 of the second period to make it 2-0. It was his second goal in as many games since returning from an upper-body injury that caused him to miss two games. Bobrovsky kept it 2-0 with a save against Tarasenko on a 2-on-1 at 14:09 of the second period, and Atkinson made it 2-1 at 14:32 when his shot from above the circles on the rush got past Allen.
"I had a lot of chances. Of course, a fluky little shot went in," Atkinson said.Berglund was given a double minor for high-sticking Alexander Wennberg at 9:14 of the third, but the Blues got a break when Foligno was called for slashing Joel Edmundson 22 seconds into the Blue Jackets power play.
"That was our opportunity there," Atkinson said.
* Tarasenko's goal at 9:37 of the second period.
* Allen stopping Panarin at 19:57 of the third period.
* Atkinson's goal at 14:32 of the second period.
* Blues forward Jaden Schwartz extended his point streak to five games (two goals, four assists) with an assist on Tarasenko's goal. He has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 12 games. … St. Louis defenseman Jordan Schmaltz replaced Carl Gunnarsson, who is out for the season after tearing his left ACL against Vancouver. … Atkinson has five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak and 10 points (six goals, four assists) in eight games. … Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky had one shot on goal, two hits and one blocked shot in 5:59 after being a healthy scratch the previous two games.
"You don't beat a team like that in their building on a back-to-back night unless you have a lot of really good performances." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo
"You've got to give them credit for their checking in the third. We had enough chances. We just couldn't beat [goalie Jake Allen]." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
"It's complete desperation on our part, like the season's on the line, so the challenge for us is to make sure that doesn't change," St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said.
The Blues were coming off a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks on Friday. The Blue Jackets defeated the Florida Panthers 4-0 on Thursday.
"We knew they were going to come," Steen said. "We had a plan for it. The big difference was [Allen] was tremendous."
Steen gave the Blues a 1-0 lead three minutes into the game on their first shot. He took a pass from behind the net by Patrik Berglund and scored from the right face-off circle.
Allen was on his game early, making a glove save on Markus Nutivaara on a backdoor play at 5:14.
"I knew where he was shooting. I just put my glove there," Allen said.
He then made the save against Artemi Panarin on a breakaway at 10:23 of the first.
"He's one of the best players in the League," Allen said. "He has a lot of moves in his bags of tricks. I tried to be patient. He's beaten me on the backhand before. I sort of stayed with it and stuck out my pad."
Tarasenko scored from the high slot at 9:37 of the second period to make it 2-0. It was his second goal in as many games since returning from an upper-body injury that caused him to miss two games. Bobrovsky kept it 2-0 with a save against Tarasenko on a 2-on-1 at 14:09 of the second period, and Atkinson made it 2-1 at 14:32 when his shot from above the circles on the rush got past Allen.
"I had a lot of chances. Of course, a fluky little shot went in," Atkinson said.Berglund was given a double minor for high-sticking Alexander Wennberg at 9:14 of the third, but the Blues got a break when Foligno was called for slashing Joel Edmundson 22 seconds into the Blue Jackets power play.
"That was our opportunity there," Atkinson said.
* Tarasenko's goal at 9:37 of the second period.
* Allen stopping Panarin at 19:57 of the third period.
* Atkinson's goal at 14:32 of the second period.
* Blues forward Jaden Schwartz extended his point streak to five games (two goals, four assists) with an assist on Tarasenko's goal. He has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 12 games. … St. Louis defenseman Jordan Schmaltz replaced Carl Gunnarsson, who is out for the season after tearing his left ACL against Vancouver. … Atkinson has five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game point streak and 10 points (six goals, four assists) in eight games. … Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky had one shot on goal, two hits and one blocked shot in 5:59 after being a healthy scratch the previous two games.
"You don't beat a team like that in their building on a back-to-back night unless you have a lot of really good performances." -- Blues coach Mike Yeo"You've got to give them credit for their checking in the third. We had enough chances. We just couldn't beat [goalie Jake Allen]." -- Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella
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