Blues take down ‘Canes

It sure was an interesting game. On Sunday the Blues bounced back from a 5-0 loss in Nashville by scoring five goals themselves in North Carolina. Alex Pietrangelo returned to the lineup as well.

Ty Rattie, after being pulled up from the Chicago Wolves, scored 2:17 into the first period. Scottie Upshall slung a shot towards Ward, who gave up a juicy rebound. Rattie reached and released to give the Blues an early 1-0 lead.

About six minutes later, Jeff Skinner tied the game as he snuck one past Jake Allen. Ron Hainsey assisted Skinner’s 22nd goal of the season.

Then Skinner returned the favor as he slid Hainsey the puck at the point. Hainsey’s snapshot found its way to the back of the net to give the Hurricanes a 2-1 lead mid-way through the first period.

However, it was all Blues from there.

Just 0:20 into the second, Magnus Paajarvi slid the puck to a wide-open David Backes just outside the crease. Backes knocked in his 16th of the season to tie the game at two.

During a penalty kill later on in the second period, Scottie Upshall pressured a Hurricanes’ defenseman into coughing up the puck in the nuetral zone. He brought the puck into the ‘Canes zone with Kyle Brodziak… A 2-on-0. Upshall passed it to Brodziak, who went bar-down on a sprawling Cam Ward.

Alex Pietrangelo flipped the puck out of the Blues zone and Robby Fabbri caught it on his stick. With momentum, he carried it across the blue line and beat the defensemen wide. He then cut back to the middle, faked a pivot to his forehand, then went back to his backhand before saucing the puck into the net. His 15th goal of the season gave the Blues a 4-2 lead.

But Alex Pietrangelo wasn’t finished.

Patrik Berglund slid the puck over to Petro, and Cam Ward got caught out of the crease. In an attempt to slide back to block his shot, Ward ran into Troy Brouwer, who was standing (legally) outside the crease. Pietrangelo put it in the net, and then Ward wound up and laid a nasty slash to Brouwer’s ankle. The goal was reviewed for goalie interference, but Ward is the one who should have been penalized.