Toronto Maple Leafs edge St. Louis Blues in shootout 3-2 -NHL Match Update
Phil Kessel continued playing strong for the Toronto Maple Leafs as his attempt in the shootout was the only successful one which led the team to edge the St. Louis Blues, 3-2, Thursday night, November 8, 2011, at the sold-out Scottrade Center in Saint Louis,
Missouri, United States.
The Maple Leafs were 0-2 in their last two matchups and having had one of the best starts to the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) regular season, winning this next contest against the St. Louis Blues was crucial to maintain a top spot in the Eastern
Conference.
At the moment, Toronto is tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for the number one position in the East with 21 points, making the upcoming games crucial for their positioning.
St. Louis outshot the opponent by attempting 40 shots on the Toronto net, while the Maple Leafs had only 22 shots. Ben Scrivens stood concrete in the net and blocked 38 of the 40 shots.
"I thought we did a good job of funneling pucks to the net", Blues winger Alex Steen said. "We just missed our opportunities. I had one, (Berglund) had a really good one. It ended up costing us the game".
Scrivens was playing only his third game with the team but had an amazing performance which he was even doubtful of.
"It's a double-edged sword", Scrivens said. "They don't know much about me. Also, I don't know much about them. So I just tried to get out there and stay big and try and track the puck and force them to beat me with a good move or a good shot".
John-Michael Liles and Phil Kessel scored two straight after the midway mark of the opening period, both on back-to-back power play opportunities as St. Louis had three players penalised within a six minute time frame.
Jason Arnott scored the first for St. Louis nearly midway through the second period while Patrik Berglund made the equaliser with less than eight minutes remaining in the third and final period of regulation to force an uncertain overtime extension, which
also remained fruitless.
Toronto has the next two contests at home starting off with the Ottawa Senators on Saturday while the Blues will host the Tampa Bay Lightning on the same day.
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