In St Louis, the Blues blew a 3-0 lead on Thursday night and then needed the skills competition to down the Washington Capitals, 5-4 on Thursday night.
The Caps scored twice in the third period to force the extra session, John Carlson (power play) and Connor Sheary hit for goals in a span of 72 seconds in the third for the 4-4 tie.
The victory was the Blues fifth straight after their ugly eight-game slide.
Thomas Greiss made 47 saves in the win.
“Get the monkey off [our] back, it’s great to win at home,” Greiss said. “It was fun. I don’t know what it is [about facing a lot of shots this season], but it’s just the way it goes. You’ve got to make the best of it.”
The Blues improved to 8-8-0.
“For sure,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “We were a little bit gassed [from being] on the road and coming back [after a 5-2 victory at the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday]. Got off to a good lead, which was important, but the goalie was excellent.”
Pavel Buchnevich, who had a goal in regulation, was credited with the deciding strike in the penalties.
Carlson scored twice for the Caps, and Alex Ovechkin added a single marker in the loss.
“Obviously it’s a tough start,” Ovechkin said. “You go [down] 3-0 after the first, but you can see the boys didn’t give up, played hard. I think last two periods like previous game against Florida (a 5-2 loss Tuesday), we didn’t start well but then we start pushing and have a chance to bounce back and win the game.”
Washington dropped to 7-9-3.
St Louis scored three times in the first period.
Brayden Schenn, Buchnevich, and Torey Krug (power-play) were the first period strikers for St Louis.
“We just sat back, turned pucks over,” Schenn said. “Didn’t close out plays defensively and forced us to play a lot of time in our own end.
“That’s what happens. You give up 50 shots, you’re just probably not [playing] hard enough defensively, and guys that are over there, they have a ton of skill. They’re going to make the most of it. And we relied on our goalie way too much.”
Ovechkin and Carlson made it 3-2 in the second before Ryan O’Reilly scored for St Louis for a 4-2 lead headed to the third.
“We didn’t press enough offensively,” Caps coach Peter Laviolette said. “I don’t think we gave up much defensively, but we’ve got to push more from the start. I don’t think we brought enough pucks to the net. We didn’t bring enough people to the net and I thought after the first, we got going.”
Charlie Lindgren made 19 saves in the Caps loss.
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