The St Louis Blues scored twice in the third period to take a 4-2 lead over the Lightning in Tampa, and then held off the Bolts for 4-3 road win.
The win ended a two-game skid for St Louis.
Oskar Sundqvist struck twice in the win.
“I thought it was a good hockey game all around,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “Back and forth. We played well. It was a good game. I thought our penalty kill was good (3-for-4). I know we gave up the one, but for the most part it kept them off the scoreboard. Big power-play goal for us in the third. Overall, a pretty solid game.”
Jordan Binnington made 32 saves in the win.
Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point and Anthony Cirelli scored for the Lightning.
“I thought we played hard. I thought we battled and competed,” Point said. “Every line seemed to be working hard. It was tough to come up with nothing, but there is a lot to build on.”
The Bolts dropped to 12-8-2.
“First of all, that was a pretty good hockey game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “I thought it was two good teams going at it. In the end, if you really break it down, they got us on the special teams side of things. We both got power-play goals, but we gave up a [shorthanded goal] and eventually it ended up being the difference.”
Brayden Schenn and Zach Sanford also scored for the Blues.
“[Sundqvist] leaves this game after putting two in and being a big part of this team, it goes back to we’re a team,” Sanford said. “Everyone on this team from top to bottom can step up and maybe take over a little more of a role or change their role a little bit to help the team be successful. We’ve been doing a good job with it.”
[WATCH:Â All Blues vs. Lightning highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 29 saves in the loss.
“It’s tough. Obviously, we got bit by the penalty bug there at the end,” Kevin Shattenkirk said. “Tough break for that to happen. All in all, it was a good game and kind of one we feel like we should’ve had a point coming out of.”
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