COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The coach and captain credited Chris Stewarts toughness for turning the tide in the Blues favour.
Phil Hughes Jersey . It culminated with David Backes scoring 22 seconds into overtime on a breakaway that completed St. Louis rally from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night. St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said Backes goal was nice, but they never would have gotten there without Stewart. "Chris Stewart showed a lot of guts and courage," Hitchcock said. "He got into a hell of a fight. His hand was sore. He ends up scoring the tying goal. He gave us a real inspiration." Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice, and after a bout with Dalton Prout late in the second period, Stewart tied it with 6:27 remaining for St. Louis. The Blues entered tied for the fewest regulation losses in the league with six, and have now won three straight and four of five. Brenden Morrow added two assists and Jaroslav Halak made 30 saves. "Stewie coming back after a big fight to score the tying goal, shows a lot of what hes about," said Backes, the captain. On the winner, Columbus lost the puck at its blue line. Backes took it, fended off Fedor Tyutin on a delayed penalty call then deked Mike McKenna, calmly scoring with a high shot. "I didnt get a very good read on where his hands were going with the puck," said McKenna, who finished with 27 saves. "Its frustrating. We were right there and played well enough to get a win tonight." Backes said it served as a little bit of redemption for a team performance that was not very good. "I just tried to take it to the net and found a little bit of area there and was lucky to get it through," Backes said of his 16th. Tyutin, Artem Anisimov and Ryan Johansen scored for Columbus, which came out flying to take a 3-1 lead after the first period. It was a tough loss for the Blue Jackets, who had won four of five, jelling around their backup goalies with last seasons Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovksy on the shelf. Third stringer and St. Louis native McKenna was back in net for the second straight game, making his first start since 2010 while playing for New Jersey, which was also against the Blues. On Thursday, in a 4-2 win at the New York Rangers, he stopped 17 of 18 shots in relief of an injured Curtis McElhinney. But in this one, the Blue Jackets and McKenna couldnt hold down the fort. "We had opportunities and that might be the most disappointing thing," said Columbus coach Todd Richards, who lost his first game (36-1) when leading after two periods since taking over in 2009. "I think we played hard for 60 plus minutes and it wasnt good enough. We had opportunities to put the game away and we kept them around." Trailing 3-2 to start the third period, St. Louis pulled even after Nick Foligno and Mark Letestu couldnt convert on breakaway chances. Seconds after Letestu fired high into the glass, a rebound off McKenna into traffic found Stewart down low. He wasted no time converting his seventh at 13:33. Tarasenko staked St. Louis to the early lead. Catching a fortuitous carom off Prout and with McKenna leaning toward the initial play, he scored from the slot at 4:10 of the first period on the Blues second shot. Columbus answered with three goals in just under five minutes. Blake Comeau powered his way around Kevin Shattenkirk and slid a short pass to near the crease where Anisimov chipped home his ninth at 8:49. Tyutin followed two minutes later with a blast from the point for his third after a hard Blue Jackets forecheck led to a St. Louis turnover. "Not our first period that we like to play," Backes said. "We had to dig deep and get two points somehow." Then things heated up after the whistle with Columbus on the power play. Matt Calvert fought Ian Cole near the Blues goal while Barret Jackman and Folingo squared off. Cole took an extra roughing penalty giving the Blue Jackets a two-man advantage. Johansen cashed in 8 seconds later at the left dot, taking Brandon Dubinskys feed across the circles, and firing the puck past Halak for his team-leading 12th goal. St. Louis pressed the issue early in the second period but McKenna made several nice saves, including one with his leg pad on Vladimir Sobotka. Tarasenko finally broke through for St. Louis, notching his second and 11th of the season, snapping a screened shot from the left circle on the power play at 8:33. The teams had a combined eight minor penalties in the period with St. Louis whistled for five of them. Halak stoned Foligno from point-blank range late in the period with the Blue Jackets on another two-man advantage. "We had good early and then bad for a long stretch and then we started to come on again," Hitchcock said. "Every part of our game we had lots of good and bad throughout the hockey game." NOTES: Richards said injured F Marian Gaborik (sprained knee) and D James Wisniewski (upper body) may return next week. RW Nathan Horton continues to progress in his rehab after having shoulder surgery in July. ... The Blue Jackets added Jeremy Smith to their roster on emergency recall from their AHL affiliate to be McKennas back up. ... McKenna, who played for St. Louis AHL affiliate last season, has played in 19 games in the NHL with New Jersey, Tampa Bay and Columbus, going 5-9-2. His father is an off-ice official and scorer for the Blues. ... Johansen extended his career-high points streak to eight games, totalling four goals and six assists. ... St. Louis improved to 11-3 versus the Eastern Conference this season. ... The Blue Jackets had won four in a row at home.
Miguel Sano Jersey .J. -- After getting permission from his 7-year-old daughter, New York Giants offensive lineman David Diehl has retired after an 11-year career that included two Super Bowl championships.
Wholesale Twins Jerseys . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. TORONTO -- Toronto Marlies coach Steve Spott felt his team had more than enough opportunity to pick up two points Saturday afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum. Torontos power play was held scoreless on three opportunities, including once in overtime, and the Marlies out-shot the Iowa Wild 39-27, but fell 2-1 in a shootout to the visitors. Carson MacMillan and Zack Phillips scored in the shootout to help Iowa snap a five-game skid. It was the Wilds fourth win in 11 games. "I think we had more than enough opportunity to put the game away," said Spott. "Very good players with empty nets and were hitting posts, were not getting pucks up and over (Wild starter, Johan) Gustafsson. "We had some glorious chances, that we didnt put in the back of the net. When you let a team like that -- thats desperate -- hang around, thats what the result is going to be." Toronto dropped to 1-1-0 on their current three-game, three-night stretch and had their three-game win streak snapped. MacMillan faked a slapshot and then beat Marlies starter Garret Sparks in the first round of the shootout. Then Phillips faked a shot, got Sparks moving before beating him glove-side in the third round. Jamie MacQueen scored in regulation for Iowa (26-30-10), while Gustafsson made 38 saves for his 12th win of the season. Peter Holland had the lone goal for Toronto (40-20-6). Sparks made 25 saves in his first loss since Jan. 25. The Marlies couldve had a fourth power-play opportunity, in the third period. Wild forward Brett Bulmer was assessed a roughing minor, but Brandon Kozun retaliated with a careless cross-check and negated the man advantage chance. When asked of Kozuns penalty, Spott responded, "I think he wont play tomorrow." With the win, the Wild earn a split in the season series. The Marlies won the only other meeting between the two teams 4-3 on Jan. 15 in Des Moines, Iowa. Holland tied it 1-1, with his ninth of the season, at 1:12 of the third period by picking up the rebound off of a Kenny Ryan shot and beating Gustafsson stick-side. "Kenny made a nice play, juust coming down the right side and threw it off the pad," said Holland of the play.
Kennys Vargas Jersey. "I was lucky enough to kind of pick up the rebound, pull it across the net and tuck it in the far side." Toronto dropped to 5-12-4 when trailing after 40 minutes this season. MacQueen opened the scoring at 7:37 beating Sparks with a shot from the bottom of the face-off circle for his second of the season. Prior to MacQueens goal, Kris Foucault had a great scoring chance when his shot beat Sparks, but hit the post at 6:00 of the second. Holland had an excellent chance to open the scoring at 16:00 of the first period, but put his shot off the side of the net with Gustafsson out of position. "We missed a couple point-blank opportunities with open nets, putting it out the far side," said Holland agreeing with Spotts assessment. "Either that or hitting the post, a couple bounces go our way, its a different story." Toronto concludes their three-game, three night stretch, when they host the Abbotsford Heat on Sunday. The Marlies need three points to clinch a playoff spot as well as their third consecutive North Division title. Its something the Maple Leafs minor leaguers are focused on. "As we go forward here our job is to win the division and try to catch Grand Rapids for second in the conference and thats still our goal," said Spott. Added Holland: "Thats obviously our main objective here is to clinch as fast as we can. We dont want to take any of the teams we play lightly, but just work on things going into the playoffs. Give guys who dont get a lot of minutes a chance to play more. Its definitely something were focusing on." Notes: Rookie defenceman Eric Knodel made his professional debut replacing Korbinian Holzer for the Marlies. The Maple Leafs recalled forward Jerry DAmigo from the Marlies on Saturday. Marlies goaltender Drew MacIntyre was a healthy scratch as Christopher Gibson backed up Sparks. Spott said Holzer, MacIntyre and captain Trevor Smith were all given the day off to rest bumps and bruises.
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