Schwartz scores twice, including game-winner 20 seconds into overtime; Blues
move within two points of a wild card, win third in a row when trailing after two
ST. LOUIS -- Call it resiliency. Call it resolve. Whatever it is, the Blues have it, and they certainly need it.
It's not a habit they want to get into, not in the ultra-stingy National Hockey League where second-period leads are as good as gold, but the Blues have dug down deep three straight times to claim previous points.
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| (St. Louis Blues photo)
Left wing Jaden Schwartz (17) looks on being defended by Bruins d-man
Matt Grzelcyk as his shot in OT wins it for the Blues, 2-1.
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The latest came against the injury-ravaged but very formidable Boston Bruins when Jaden Schwartz scored twice, including the game-winner 30 seconds into overtime to give the Blues a 2-1 victory Wednesday before 18,423 at Scottrade Center.
After overtime wins over the New York Rangers (4-3 on Saturday) and Chicago Blackhawks (5-4 on Sunday), the Blues (40-28-5) moved two points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card in the Western Conference with a game in hand.
But the bottom line is the Blues need to win. In regulation or overtime would be better to keep up with the tiebreakers. Getting outside help would be nice, but the Blues know: win out, and they likely will be in a good spot as far as the Stanley Cup Playoffs are concerned.
"We can't do anything but worry about us," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "We can't control what the other teams are going to do. So, if we keep winning hockey games, we'll have a good opportunity to get in."
"We know if we lose a game or lose a couple, we might be out of it," said Blues goalie Jake Allen, who made 21 saves. "So it's just points right now.
"... Whatever it takes right now, it's emotional games, no question. You need to take a deep breath and relax. They're a little different than a mid-November game for us. It's fun. We enjoy tonight and refocus again tomorrow."
"We knew (the resolve) was in there, but obviously we're finding it at the right time at least," Blues coach Mike Yeo said.
Indeed they are.
Despite allowing the Bruins (45-17-10) to gain a point and clinch a spot into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Blues found a way when Schwartz scored at 9 minutes, 36 seconds of the third to tie the game, and then he won it by taking Colton Parayko's pass at the defensive zone goal line and going coast to coast before wiring a shot through defenseman Matt Grzelcyk and beating Anton Khudobin low, stick side.
"Colton kind of gave it me behind the net," Schwartz said. "I know I had some space. Just tried to pick up some speed and see what was gonna develop. And the one guy kind of went with Schenner. So I had a little one-on-one and just tried changing the angle and getting it through the guy's legs.
"... It kind of depends on what they're doing a little bit. With 'Schenner' [Brayden Schenn], you can either cut and drop, or give it to him wide and cut in and try different things. But I just felt like their one guy [Riley Nash] went over to him far enough and it just kind of gave me a little 1-on-1. It's tough for a D-man on a 3-on-3 because it's hard to gap-up. So I had a little more space."
The Blues buckled down after the Bruins, who played the game without many injured regulars including former Blue David Backes, Rick Nash, Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy and Torey Krug, put nine shots on goal in the first period and had 13 the rest of the way.
"I think it was a pretty low shot game," Allen, who made his seventh consecutive start, said. "I didn't see the end, but I think both teams were passing up some chances, even wide shots that we typically take. I thought we might have been looking for a little more plays. They're not a team that just funnels pucks. They're a skill team so I think they want for their opportunities. They don't shoot a ton of pucks unless they have to. That's the way they play."
It was a game similar to the game the Blues lost 3-1 in Boston on Feb. 1, when they trailed 1-0. This time, they found a way when Schwartz converted a beauty off Alexander Steen's little drop pass, a goal that beat Khudobin high stick side after all five Blues players on the ice touched the puck and did so quickly and crisply.
"That was what was missing in the first period," Yeo said. "That was what we needed. We knew this was a pressure team and you have to move the puck quick and if you're hanging on too long and trying to skate too long and trying to look for the perfect play, then it ends up in turnovers but I think we started to be more direct and have more of a north mentality."
Schwartz, who has 22 goals on the season, said wanted to dish the puck first.
"I'm not even sure," he said. "'Steener' did a good job of backing them off and I was thinking pass at first and then just decided I'd let it go. I'm not sure how much room ... I think it just went over his blocker."
It would have been a tough way to lose a game if it finished 1-0 Boston when Ryan Donato scored his second NHL goal in his second NHL game.
He scored a power-play goal at 10:12 of the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead when Pietrangelo tried to clear a puck from behind his goal but it caromed off referee Brad Watson and onto Donato's stick.
"I'm trying to get the puck out, clearly," Pietrangelo said. "I thought it was weird because I don't know where [Watson] is. Just turned and tried to get the puck out on the penalty kill. Oh well, stuff happens."
Had it not been for the fortuitous bounce, Allen gets the shutout.
"I don't know. Crazy bounce," Allen said. "We had a couple tonight, and right on the guy's tape. What can you do?"
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| (St. Louis Blues photo)
Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (right) moves the puck up ice past
Bruins forward Brad Marchand on Wednesday at Scottrade Center.
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Allen limited the damage there.
The Blues nearly won it in the waning seconds of regulation but Khudobin was able to keep Dmitrij Jaskin's backhand out with a glove save.
They would find a way in OT again.
"It's fun to watch, eh? He's a heck of a player," Pietrangelo said of Schwartz. "It's fun to watch. Two shots, right? One high, one low on the blocker. He's been so good for us this year -- all aspects of the game. Those type of guys, it's fun when they get rewarded."
* NOTES -- Blues center Brayden Schenn was issued a charging penalty at 14:03 of the second period when he hit Boston's David Krejci.
Schenn's point of contact is with the head but replays showed he didn't leave the ice until after contact.
"He seen me last second. He was low to the ice," Schenn said. "I didn't leave my feet until he turned up. I didn't leave my feet prior to contact of the hit. Tucked my elbow in and I got a piece of his chest and obviously a little bit of his face. But I'm not there to go out and hurt anyone. I think this past year and a half I've been good. Like I said, he's low to the ice, I don't get my elbow up and hit him in the head or anything like that. My elbow is tucked and I don't leave my feet before the contact."
It'll be interesting to see if the league's department of player safety comes calling. A minor penalty was only issued, which is important to remember here.
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