Blues get back on winning side with 6-4 victory over Leafs

Pietrangelo leads way with two goals; Schenn sets career-high 

with four-point game on four assists; Tarasenko adds goal, assist

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It wasn't the worst period of hockey Saturday for the Blues, the first period, but they trailed to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

So what do the Blues do to counter the Leafs' quick start? Get back to what they do best. Get back to the staple of what makes the Blues tough to beat: put pucks in right areas in the offensive zone, get in on the forecheck and force the d-men to play uncomfortable.

Enter the second period, the Blues executed things perfectly and were able to right the ship.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Magnus Paajarvi (56) celebrates after scoring in the third

period of a 6-4 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

Alex Pietrangelo led the offensive charge by scoring twice, and the Blues got a career-high four-point night from Brayden Schenn and three assists from Jaden Schwartz, giving him 20 points in 15 games after a 6-4 win over the Maple Leafs before 19,046 at Scottrade Center.

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and an assist, Joel Edmundson, Magnus Paajarvi and Vladimir Sobotka scored for the Blues (11-3-1), who are 6-1-0 at home and 7-1-1 the past nine games.

Jake Allen made 27 saves for St. Louis and is 11-2-1 in his past 14 home starts.

The Blues turned a 1-0 deficit against the speedy and skilled Leafs (8-7-0) and turned it into a 3-1 lead by getting in on the forecheck and making life tough on the Toronto defensemen. It all led to sustained zone time, extended shifts in the offensive zone.

"We got in on the forecheck," Pietrangelo said. "Their [defensemen] want to be mobile and want to be up the ice and skate. I think the way our forwards were forechecking on their guys, it kind of limits the opportunities for them to get in there."

Blues coach Mike Yeo didn't need to go far to get answers whether the Blues could rebound after Thursday's 2-0 loss to Philadelphia.

"When we came to the rink yesterday, we asked our players, our leaders, their feel for the game and I was really confident that we were going to have a bounce-back day today," Yeo said. "I can tell that the focus was there. They recognized and we recognized that we didn't have our best in ... I don't want to say effort, but we didn't have our best performance against Philly and we wanted to bounce back and that's what good teams do."

The Maple Leafs (8-7-0), who went 1-3-0 on a four-game trip, have lost six of eight.

Tyler Bozak scored twice, Andreas Borgman had a goal and an assist, Connor Brown scored, and Matt Martin had three assists for the Maple Leafs. Frederik Andersen made 26 saves.

Borgman, who took Martin's feed inside the blue line, skated into the right circle and beat Allen with a wrist shot high stick side at 9:16 of the first period to give Toronto a 1-0 lead.

Despite outshooting the Leafs 10-6, the Blues wanted to switch up some things and accomplished what they set out to do.

"I think we just had a little more bite to our game [in the second period]," Schwartz said. "In the first, we had chances, but I think we were on the outside a lot. We got pucks to the net in the second and just kept rolling over the lines. We were playing with speed, we were going north with the puck and that allowed us to play in their zone a little bit more and create some opportunities that way. It was a good push and we kind of rolled with the momentum."

Tarasenko tied it 1-1 on a rebound goal at 2:33 of the second period. Edmundson put the Blues ahead 2-1 with another rebound goal, this time from the left of Andersen, at 7:10. It was Edmundson's career-high fourth goal of the season.

"I knew there was a forward behind me covering me," Edmundson said. "I knew 'Schenner,' he saw me all shift, he saw me parked backdoor. I think he meant to shoot on the right side just to create a rebound. Luckily I was there to bury it. It was a good feeling. Being out there with that line, they're pretty creative, so you have to have your head on a swivel."

Pietrangelo put the Blues up 3-1 at 10:28 after taking Schenn's pass, faking a shot on Andersen before curling to the goal line and tucking a backhand inside the near post for one of those highlight-reel goals.

"I don't know," Pietrangelo said when asked where that dangle came from. "I looked up and he's a big goalie, so he kind of took the whole net, and they when I pushed around, he came out pretty far, so I really didn't have much of a choice but to try and jam it in there.

"Usually you try that and you miss the puck. I got just enough on it that it slid in."

It was one of those goals Pietrangelo normally wouldn't pull off but found a way to do so. Never has he scored a goal like that in real life.

"In video games when I was younger," he joked. "... It's not something you practice. I just took what they gave me."

The Blues felt safe going into the third with a two-goal lead; they came in 9-0-0 when leading after two periods and started off right when Paajarvi scored at 1:22 to make it 4-1, and it culminated with the hard work throughout by Paajarvi and linemates Oskar Sundqvist and Dmitrij Jaskin.

"They were good tonight," Yeo said. "They were really good. I thought they were fine against Philly, but I just thought they were too safe. I think that they've got responsible players on the line and guys that are going to recognize and be in good position, but when they do things that they did tonight in terms of getting into the offensive zone, the forecheck, the turnovers they created, the way that they found a way to get to the net, I thought they had a much more aggressive approach to the game for them."

What that goal did was start a stretch of three goals in 1:02 early in the third and six times in the period.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues center Paul Stastny (26) checks the puck off the stick of Toronto

defenseman Andreas Borgman in the third period on Saturday night.

Bozak got it to 4-2 at 2:07 off a play from behind the net, and Sobotka scored at 2:24 to make it 5-2 off a forecheck by Paul Stastny behind the goal, who fed Alexander Steen, who then pinpointed a pass for Sobotka to tap in off the back post.

Pietrangelo's power-play goal at 7:52 made it 6-2, but the Blues then got loose and a bit careless with the puck and Brown made it 6-3 at 10:10, and Bozak got his second at 13:13 to make it 6-4, prompting Yeo to call a timeout.

"We were still on a good spot and we earned that position, but we needed to collect ourselves because the things that we were doing so well earlier in the game as far as controlling the game, controlling the game with the puck, controlling the game without the puck, we just got really loose against a very dynamic offensive team," Yeo said. "The funny thing is, it's not just the chances you give up, then all of the sudden you stop getting chances, you stop getting the offensive zone play. But we regrouped and a good win."