The sweep of the NHL from Wednesday night starts in St Louis where the Blues got a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the skills competition.
Kevin Shattenkirk scored the game-winner over Chicago in OT – file photo by Brianna O’Mara
After the NHL announced the next Winter Classic would be at Busch Stadium between these same two teams, Kevin Shattenkirk put home a shot in the sixth round of the shootout for the win.
Shattenkirk made up for a bad pass late in the game that led to the Hawks tying the game with 1:17 left on a goal form Artemi Panarin.
“When I think about that play, it was one where I tried to make a pass to [Vladimir Tarasenko]; I handcuffed him with a bad pass,” Shattenkirk said. “At that point, it’s easy for [Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith] to keep that puck in. He’s got a guy on top of [Tarasenko] and he’s got all the time in the world. I was a little upset with myself just making kind of a little bit of a panicky play there. But we were able to get back on top of it.
“When there’s a minute and a half left, you can kind of get down, and I think we were able to finish that period and move into overtime.”
Troy Brouwer and David Backes scored for the Blues in regulation.
“I thought we played really well; I thought we played great in the second and couldn’t get the first one,” St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We kept up the pressure. Two power-play goals were great; we earned the power plays.”
Jake Allen made 33 saves for the win that pushed the Blues to within one point of the Blackhawks and Dallas Stars in the division.
Andrew Ladd scored a power play goal for Chicago that gave them a 1-0 lead; the goal came on a major penalty to St Louis’ Ryan Reaves.
“We’re disappointed we gave up the lead,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said, “but when you score with the goalie out, you’re pretty happy on the road. It was a great hockey game, both teams had their chances late, shootout, overtime. I mean it was a back-and-forth, game was on the line there throughout. Now we’re all tied (in the standings).”
In Vancouver, Jacob Markstrom made 32 saves to help the Canucks beat the Arizona Coyotes, 3-2, in overtime.
“You come into the room and you notice everyone is happy, everyone is smiling, and that’s the way you want it to be when you come in after a game, especially at home,” Markstrom said. “And the fans are happy; you want to play for them too. There’s a lot of pride going on right now.”
Markus Granlund scored the game-winner with 1:42 gone in the extra session.
“It’s big for us and for the fans,” Granlund said. “It’s a good win here on home ice.”
Tobias Rieder and Kevin Connauton scored for the Coyotes in regulation.
“They got two goals off two chances. One was a redirect in front, and the other one just a poor read on our defending,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “We only gave up two chances in the second period. Don’t make the mistakes, that’s about it. We played well.”
Radim Vrbata and Luca Sbisa scored for the Canucks who erased a two-goal deficit.
“Up two in the second period, we felt great about ourselves, and then all of a sudden, a couple times we get lost in our own zone and create opportunities for them and let them back into the game,” Arizona’s Alex Tanguay said. “It’s frustrating. When you are up 2-0 on the road, you have to make sure you play solid, you don’t get lost, you play the position.”
In Calgary, the Flames got an overtime goal from Mikael Backlund to defeat the Nashville Predators, 3-2.
Johnny Gaudreau had two goals in regulation for the Flames.
“I don’t really know what the standings are right now. I haven’t really checked them out,” Gaudreau said. “We have to play our hardest every single game. There are a lot of expectations in this locker room to finish the season out strong, get a good summer in and be ready for next year.”
Johnny Gaudreau had two goals for Flames in win over Predators – File photo by Jack Lima
Anthony Bitetto and Mike Fisher scored for the Preds in regulation.
“You wish every game was perfect, but it’s not,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. “You’ve got to play the hand that’s dealt sometimes and that was the hand we were playing. Guys know it wasn’t where we needed to be and they know that we’re capable of playing better. I think the big thing is they found a way to turn it around in the third period. To me, that speaks volumes to the guys in the room and their commitment to get a win.”
Joni Ortio made 24 saves for the Flames in the win.
Carter Hutton made 31 saves for Nashville in the loss. The loser’s point pushed the Predators’ point streak to 14 games, a franchise record.
Fisher’s goal tied the game at two all with less than two minutes left in the third period.
“To come out and grab the third period like that I thought was a really gutsy effort by our guys,” Laviolette said. “We battled back on the road down two goals. It’s not really going your way on a night, but yet you stay with it and stick with it and find a way to score the two goals.”
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