It’s happened before, and it happened again: Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak bested his former team, the Montreal Canadiens. But it wasn’t easy, and it was a total team effort.
In the first period, only two minutes and 38 seconds in, Alexander Steen came from behind Canadiens goalie Casey Price to net the first goal of the evening, and the only one scored in the first period for either team.
Halak played stout goal-tending for most of the night, but in the second period, Montreal swung momentum on their side. Canadiens forward Andrei Markov collided with Halak in the net trying to make a shot. Visibly shaken, Halak continued to stay in the game, but Rene Bourque was fully aware of what happened, launched the puck between Halak’s legs and into the net to tie the game at one apiece.
At the 14:49 mark in the second, after a poor pass by Blues iron man Jay Bouwmeester was intercepted by Michael Bournival, Bournival would sling the puck with a massive slap-shot into the net past Halak, putting Montreal up 2-1 in the second period. The Blues would not score throughout the rest of the period.
Forward Chris Stewart netted the tying goal at 10:31 into the 3rd period. With some help from Kevin Shattenkirk, Stewart was able to shoot a deflected pass off the net-post right by Price.
Stewart’s goal was the last of regulation by either team, although, Montreal did have a chance to score the potential game winning goal. At the 8:49 mark, Tomas Plekanec when, in the final minute of the game, was given a penalty shot. But his shot was off target, and went wide from the net, thereby forcing the game into overtime.
Strong defense and goal-tending by the Blues prevented Montreal from winning in the overtime period. In fact, Montreal didn’t have a single shot on goal in overtime. Winning face-offs had proved viable in the Blues’ effort, as they won 48 total face-offs, as opposed to Montreal, who only scored 27. But Price shut down their offense, and the Blues couldn’t score in the period either.
Thus, the game went into a shootout. On his first shot, forward T.J Oshie fired a shot right past Price into the net, giving St. Louis a 1-0 lead in the shootout. Halak took care of the rest, shutting down all three shots on goal by Montreal, and sealing the win for St. Louis, who improve their already impressive record to 9-2-2 on the season, and Montreal dropped to 8-7-1.
St. Louis’ offense has been a major boost to the team this season, ranking second in the NHL in goals per game, averaging nearly four goals a game, and Halak is playing strong goal-tending, ranking seventh allowing only 2.3 goals per game. Steen’s goal in the first period was his 13th goal on the season, on pace for a major career high in goals scored.
The Blues next play at home on Thursday, November 7th, against the Calgary Flames, who are looking to move back to the .500 mark, while St. Louis looks to reach double-digit wins.
(Photo credit/Getty Images)
