Late comeback gives St. Louis Blues victory over Edmonton Oilers 4-3– NHL Update
A final-period comeback by St. Louis Blues to score three goals saw them through against Edmonton Oilers, 4-3, on Thursday, January 5, 2012, at the Scottrade Centre.
The Blues kept their fighting spirits alive in what became a battle of nerves towards the end to get the deserving triumph.
Both the teams dominated at least one period before the game-clinching goal by Matt D'Agostini, who scored his ninth goal of the season.
"It was wild," he said. "We stay even-strength with those guys in the third period and really took it to them. We built a lot of character with that win. When we play our best, there's not a lot of teams that can keep up with us when we play like that."
The battle stayed even for most part of the first period. Both the teams made a number of attempts to send the puck right through the net, but the respective goalies played their part handsomely.
However, Blues finally broke the shackles at 14:42, thanks to an assist by Jamie Langenbrunner who set up Chris Stewart for his ninth goal of the season.
Trailing by a goal, the Oilers entered the second period carrying the aim to destroy their opponents.
After around five minutes, Ales Hemsky and Ryan Jones assisted Taylor Hall who equalised the score after registering his 13th goal of the season.
Few seconds later, Andy Sutton came up to assist Ben Eager, who put the Oilers in-charge.
The Oilers increased their lead late in the period when Jordan Eberle scored his 17th goal of the season, thanks to Sam Gagner who assisted the former.
The trend of the game, that had started to display the looks of a one-sided encounter, took a dramatic turn in the final period.
As soon as the period started, David Backes and Carlo Colaiacovo assisted Alex Pietrangelo to reduce the deficit.
After a minute later, the same trio combined once again to level the scores. This time, however, the score was Backes, who was assisted by Colaiacovo and Pietrangelo.
With the rest of the period remaining, both teams had a chance to dominate each other. But the goalies once again came to their teams’ rescue.
Nevertheless, it was D'Agostini, who was assisted by Colaiacovo and T.J. Oshie, for the game-winning goal for the Blues.
Blues’ goaltender, Jaroslav Halak, saved 29 out of 32 shots, whereas his Oilers’ counterpart, Devan Dubnyk, made 33 saves of 37 attempts.
The dramatic comeback by the Blues left everyone, including the Oilers, in awe. Colaiacovo, who had three assists during the game said that the team regrouped after the disastrous second period to rally past the Oilers.
"We came in, regrouped, we stayed out of the box and we made them pay for their penalties. We had the right guys stepping up in the third when it counted and when it meant the most. At the end of the day, it was a huge character win for us and we found a
way to win."
The defeat was second straight for the Oilers, while the Blues stretched their winning streak to two.
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