– Photo by Ryan Leopando
Since joining the St. Louis Blues, Martin Brodeur has done what he has done his entire career. And that is win.
The 42-year old notched the 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers as Brodeur stopped 32 of the 34 shots he face and was the first star of the game.
In the opening period, the Blues wasted little time as Maxim Lapierre fought off Brian Campbell behind the net as he moved out past the goal line. Lapierre turned and fired a shot on net that beat Roberto Luongo to put the Blues ahead 1-0 with 9:43 remaining in the first.
Capitalizing on the momentum later in the third period, Jori Lehtera ripped a shot on net that was sticked away by Luongo. Lehtera then hustled to the puck and won the battle along the boards and took the puck towards the slot area as he dished it back to Ian Cole who ripped a slap shot into the back of the net to make it 2-0.
The first period was not all perfect for the Blues, however, as captain David Backes headed to the locker room after being struck in the face by a shot from T.J. Oshie on the power play. Backes returned in the second period with a cage, but he left later in the third.
After a goal by Florida’s Nick Bjugstad, the Blues went to the locker room after two periods of play up 2-1 despite allowing 18 shots to the Panthers in the period. The Blues rank 8th in the NHL when leading after two periods of play as they have won 90.9 percent of their games when leading after two periods.
This would be in jeopardy tonight, however, as the 2014 first overall selection Aaron Ekblad snuck into the back door for his fifth goal of the year knotting things up at two. On the play, Kevin Shattenkirk’s stick broke in half, and he yelled for Oshie to give him his stick. Oshie gave Shattenkirk his stick, but instead of staying on his man despite having no stick, he rushed to the bench leaving Ekblad wide open for the goal.
Luckily for Oshie and the Blues, Chris Porter stepped up with his first goal of the season as Barret Jackman fired a shot from the point, and Porter tipped it past Luongo for the goal. The goal came with just 1:54 left in the third period to put the Blues up 3-2.
After a flurry of saves again by Brodeur, Paul Stastny cashed in on and empty net goal to seal the game 4-2. After struggling the majority of this season offensively, the Blues have now totaled 10 goals in the past two games.
The Blues next matchup will be Thursday, Dec. 11 against the New York Islanders who the Blues defeated last game 6-4. The puck is set to drop from the Scottrade Center at 7 p.m. CT.
