ST. LOUIS, MO. – The Carolina Hurricanes scored, but the St. Louis Blues did too and eventually won a 5-4 shootout at Scottrade Center on Saturday.
Coming off an explosive 5-2 win over Buffalo on Thursday, the Hurricanes (13-24-5) continued to fill the net against the Blues (26-13-3).
Victor Rask, Jeff Skinner, Eric Staal, and Riley Nash posted markers for Carolina while Cam Ward made 31 stops.
St. Louis’ Alexander Steen, Jaden Schwartz, Patrik Berglund, and Vladimir Tarasenko helped to orchestrate the comeback along with goaltender Jake Allen who earned the win, making 19 stops on 20 shots faced, after coming in to relieve Brian Elliott in the first period.
“A good game,” Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said.
“I thought it was a high-end game. Obviously a little loose at times by us, but we scored four. I thought we moved the puck at times real well. We got hemmed in a little bit in the second – they half-iced us. Part of it was them heavy on the forecheck, a little bit us on execution.”
Carolina led 3-1 by the 12:42 mark of the first period which prompted Elliott’s departure.
Rask, Skinner and Staal scored their sixth, 10th, and 13th in order for Carolina, while Steen kept the home side close.
Two goals in 54 seconds early in the second brought the Blues even with Carolina as both were tied 3-3.
Nash’s seventh goal of the season gave Carolina a one-goal lead heading into the third period.
Special teams play didn’t make the difference offensively, as Carolina went 0-for-3 on the power play, while successfully killing off the Blues’ lone man-advantage opportunity.
The momentum that the Blues had been building up by gaining puck possession, winning 42 faceoffs to Carolina’s 21, and playing a more physical game, finally allowed them to even the score again.
Tarasenko beat Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason off the right boards and followed up on his rebound to beat Ward as both teams were tied 4-4 with 13:14 to play.
As each team earned a point for their effort after 60 minutes, and following a deadlocked overtime period, it was T.J. Oshie’s lone goal that stood as the deciding factor that gave St. Louis the win.
Attempts by Skinner, Staal and Alexander Semin were all denied by Allen.
Even though the Hurricanes hadn’t lost a game in which they scored four or more goal games this season, the Blues never stopped working to catch up and eventually win the game.
“At 3-1 with 40 minutes to go, and you thought it was over, then you’re not payin’ attention,” Peters said.
“It’s always disappointing to give up a lead, but the reality is, they were (given) full marks for those two goals early in the third, so you gotta’ keep playin’…For the most part, I think we did a good job. Pleased to come into St. Louis on the road, a team that’s playin’ really well, and get a point out of that. I’ll take that point. Would I have liked the additional point? Sure I would have, but we’ll learn from this game and move on.”
Notes: Carolina’s 21 faceoff wins resulted in a 33-percent success rate – one of the lowest this season…Tarasenko had a game-high eight shots on goal while Rask, Staal, and Nathan Gerbe each had a team-high four …Oshie had a quiet game relative to his teammates with only one shot, one blocked shot, one hit and a takeaway to his credit before scoring the deciding goal in the shootout.