Final period blitz leads St. Louis Blues to 4-3 win over Phoenix Coyotes
Alexander Steen lit the lamp early in the third period to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-3 victory over Phoenix Coyotes on Friday night. Steen propelled St. Louis to their fifth consecutive victory of the season with his game-winning goal.
Alexander Steen said after the game, “They (Phoenix) didn’t go away. They battled back, worked hard, but we got the win.”
Centerman Brad Boyes scored the first of four straight Blues’ goals, while Barret Jackman had two assists for St. Louis. Goaltender Jaroslav Halak saved 30 of 33 shots in the victory. Shane Doan, who picked up his 700th career point, scored twice for Coyotes
while Ilya Bryzgalov surrendered four goals on 22 shots in the loss. Phoenix made it a close game by scoring three goals in the third period, but the Coyotes (6-6-2) could not net the equaliser.
"Our margin for error is very slim," Coyotes head coach Dave Tippett said. "On every given night, you've got to try to play as well as you can in all those areas, and right now we're just not there."
Despite being out-shot 14-6 in the first period, St. Louis took a 1-0 lead with six minutes left. On a Blues rush, Boyes converted a cross-ice feed from Steen and decked once before beating Ilya Bryzgalov between the leg pads.
“We created some chances,” Dave Tippett said. “The one chance they got, they capitalised on. We had a couple of chances very similar to that and didn’t capitalise on. If we got a lead in that first period, it could be a different outcome. We feel like we
played better”
Erik Johnson scored a short-handed goal eight minutes into the second to make it 2-0. He took a pass in the right circle from David Backes and snapped past Bryzgalov.
“That was probably the moment that allowed the game to tilt a little bit more in our favor,” Blues coach Davis Payne said. “Great individual play, great read, and now all of the sudden, we feel like we’re in more command of the game.”
With one and a half minutes left in the second, Alex Pietrangelo's power-play marker gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead. His shot from the top of the blue line got through the Coyotes netminder’s pad. In the fourth minute of the final period, Steen received an errant
pass in the St. Louis’ zone and sneaked it past Bryzgalov. After Steen’s goal, the Coyotes started their comeback.
Doan scored the first goal for the Phoenix in the seventh minute, by backhanding a shot that got through goalie Halak’s pads and snapped the shutout. After that, Lauri Korpikoski lit the lamp with a wrister with over a minute remaining. Doan tipped in his
second goal of the game with 20.9 seconds left, but Halak held steady from there to ensure the Blues' victory.
"Good thing we didn't give up any more, because that would be a disaster," Halak said.
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