ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The St. Louis Blues continue to impress as the month of October draws to a close. The Blues are now 6-1-2 with 14 points, including their come-from-behind shootout victory over Atlanta on Saturday night.
Image courtesy of the St. Louis Blues
The Blues are now riding a four-game winning streak, beginning with wins on consecutive nights against two previous Stanley Cup Champions – the Chicago Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins. Although the Blues and Penguins have only faced each other three times dating back to 2008, the Blues are one of five clubs that Sidney Crosby has yet to score against.
As Saturday night’s game got underway, Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak had played over 150 minutes of shutout hockey, second only to Manny Legace who shut down the competition for 186 minutes during the 2007-08 season. But the Blues quickly found themselves trailing Atlanta and Halak’s shutout streak came to an end after a power play strike by Rich Peverley put the Thrashers up 1-0.
The Blues got the equalizer when Jay McClement deflected a shot from close range by Matt D’Agostini past Ondrej Pavelec to make it 1-1 at the 11:58 mark. A second Thrashers power play goal by Nik Antropov, followed by a Niclas Bergfors strike with 2.7 seconds remaining in the first frame, put Atlanta up 3-1.
There would be no scoring in the second period.
St. Louis kept the pressure on the Thrashers and at 13:49 of the third period, Jay McClement picked up his second goal of the game, finding himself in the right spot at the right time. McLement secured his first NHL hat trick less than two minutes later, deflecting a shot from the point by Alex Pietrangelo, tying the game at the 15:35 mark.
There would be no further scoring and the game was forced to overtime where the e Blues had several opportunities but were unable to solve Pavelec during the extra frame.
The Blues selected T.J. Oshie to go first in the ensuing shoot-out and Oshie didn’t disappoint, putting a point on the board for the Blues. Halak managed to stop both Atlanta shooters and Brad Boyes clinched the extra point, beating Pavelec for the win.
The Blues have 14 points in their first nine games and are off to their best start since they started the 2002-03 season at 6-1-1. The 5-0 home start is the best since they won their first five home games in October of 2000.
St. Louis fans gave a warm welcome to former goaltender Chris Mason, who made his return to St. Louis after being signed by Atlanta this summer. The Blues are now off until Thursday night when they will host the San Jose Sharks at Scottrade Center. On Saturday, the Blues will travel to Boston to take on Tim Thomas and the Bruins for the first and only time this season. They’ll round out the weekend with a trip to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Rangers on Sunday.
Contact the author at roger.nebelsick@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.