Recap Penguins Vs. Blues: Baby Come Back

After a horrible loss on the national network, the St. Louis Blues traveled to Pittsburgh tonight to take on the Sidney Crosby's Penguins. Jake Allen would get the start for our guys. On the other side, Marc-Andre Fleury would get the start for the bad guys. Lineup for the Blues would stay the same for the top two lines. The third line would consist of Berglund/Stastny/Porter. While the fourth line would see the combination of Ott/Goc/Reaves. Familiar faces for us Blues fans as Ian Cole, David Perron and Maxim Lapierre were all in the lineup tonight for the Penguins.

First Period:

Score a GD goal. That's all I ask guys. But alas, none. Again. They might be allergic. Although, this game did start an hour earlier than what they usually do. That's all I got. I can't really explain what's going on in these dreaded first periods. Maybe they've traded in the bad second periods for bad first periods? I mean, don't get me wrong, tonight was actually a pretty good first. Penguins fans might not have thought that though. A shoulder to shoulder hit on Christian Ehrhoff by Vladimir Tarasenko sent him into the boards and would have to leave the game. To my knowledge he did not return.

The Oshie/Backes/Steen line played another good game tonight. Here, they get a few good chances here on Fleury. Oshie just couldn't get it in...

More of the same a few moments later as Steen would get a tip on goal here:

Late in the period there would be some Chris on Chris action in a game that saw plenty of hits (73 all together) Thought when that happened the world was supposed to explode or something? Anyway, 0-0 after 1. Blues have not scored a goal in 8 straight first periods.

Second Period:

Welp. Just when you thought it wasn't a big deal that it was still 0-0, the Penguins probably changed your mind. Blake Comeau would break the 0-0 tie:

Gotta watch the man coming out of the box. Should Allen have had that? Maybe. 1-0 bad guys. 17 seconds later the wheels looked like they were falling off as the Pens would score yet again. This time Steve Downie would get his 13th of the year:

Initially thought Allen had that, but the overhead clearly showed the puck in the net. 2-0 and it's looking like the Blues were going to end this road trip with a loss if they didn't do something quick. They did something quick. Well, Ott did something quick. He found a dance partner in Craig Adams literally a few moments after the second goal. I totally feel that this was the momentum shift that the Blues needed. After that it was former Pens to the rescue! First Robert Bortuzzo would bury one after a mad scrum in front of the net. Shoutout to the ref for actually doing his job and skating to a better position to see the puck and not blow it dead here:

Not to be outdone, Marcel Goc would score his first as a Blue. The fourth line getting some good pressure here. Reaves did his best to not get called for interference there as well.

Glad Goc got his first. I've been quietly hoping he scored sooner than later.

Third Period:

As bad(or not as bad) as you thought those two goals Allen gave up in the second, he was lights out in the third.

Didn't seem to let the bad start shake him. And in fact on the play above, was looking pretty confident. Gotta give him credit for hanging in there. Gotta give a shoutout to Crosby for missing a very wide open net late in the game. This obviously would have given the Penguins the game. It also would have been the end of Crosby's goaless streak against the Blues:

On to the overtime period we'd go. Still tied at two in case anyone was still wondering.

Overtime:

Thirty-five seconds in...BALLGAME:

Zybnek Michalek called "bank" and Steen obliged and gave the Blues a MUCH needed two points. Not saying that this was a must win game, but it was a nice way to end the road trip that seemed like it started back in January. On the goal a former Penguin would strike again. Michalek would get the obvious assist on the tip in. Jake Allen would stop 24 in his 19th win of the season. Blues now have 99 points on the year, and are now in the top spot in the West. The Blues do not play again until Saturday, but they are finally back at the Scottrade.