Photo by: (AP Photo/Billy Hurst)
After trailing 2-0 after the first period, the St. Louis Blues stormed back to win 5-2 over the Arizona Coyotes for their second victory in as many days.
Although Elliott allowed two goals on his first nine shots faced, he rebounded to stop the next 18 straight attempts to pick up the win.
Offensively, the Blues scored four goals in the third period including a pair of goals from Kyle Brodziak in the game.
Following the victory, the Blues and the Dallas Stars have identical records of 48-23-9 for 105 points. With two games, left one of the two will finish first in the Central Division while the other will finish second to take on the reigning Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks in the first round.
Despite the loss, Arizona came out strong early.
Connor Murphy held the puck at the blue line and wristed a shot on net. The puck found its way through the bodies in front as Elliott was able to get his right pad on it. However, poor defensive rotation allowed Antoine Vermette to put home the rebound untouched giving Arizona a 1-0 lead with 16:32 left in the first period.
About 10 minutes later, the Coyotes struck again.
In the neutral zone, Anthony Duclair picked up the loose puck and transitioned into the attacking end. Duclair dropped the puck back to Alex Tanguay and then went to the far post. Tanguay returned the favor as Duclair kicked the bouncing puck to his stick and somehow managed to pivot and lift the puck into the net making it 2-0.
In the second period, St. Louis answered.
Midway through the period on the power play, Colton Parayko passed to his defensive partner. Alex Pietrangelo corralled the pass and glided in before wristing a shot on net. Troy Brouwer deflected the shot between the legs of Mike Smith for his second goal in as many days to cut the deficit in half.
St. Louis kept poured it on in the third period as momentum swung in its favor.
After a miscue by the Coyotes at the point, Kyle Brodziak used his speed and went in all on a contested breakaway. Brodziak fired a shot past the glove short side on Smith knotting the game at two just 1:28 into the period.
The Blues didn’t stop there as about 10 minutes later, Vladamir Tarasenko came in down the right side and snuck a tough shot into the net to give the Blues their first lead of the game 3-2.
Tarasenko’s goal ended up being the difference as Patrik Berglund and Brodziak each scored again to seal the victory for the Blues.
After the win, the Blues will play their second to last game Thursday, April 4 in a potential playoff preview against the Chicago Blackhawks.
