Tarasenko Goal Lifts Blues Past Stars

Print

Published on November 29 2016 6:15 am
Last Updated on November 29 2016 6:15 am

By ESPN

Giving up a lead late before going on to win two straight games is not St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock's idea of good hockey.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored at 3:24 of overtime to lift the Blues to a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Monday night. Tarasenko took a pass from Jori Lehtera and fired a wrist shot past Stars goalie Antti Niemi for 10th of the season and team-leading 23rd point.

The Stars had tied it with 50 seconds left in the third period on defenseman Jamie Oleksiak's second goal of the game.

"There's a real concern about the leads," Hitchcock said. "There's a real concern about what we gave up and how we did it. We played terrific and had full control of the hockey game. We got careless on our checking and our puck management."

The Blues also gave up a late third-period goal in Saturday's shootout win over Minnesota.

"There's a lot of good things to like with what's going on right now," Hitchcock said. "You like our spirit and our ability to come back but there's genuine concerns on my part about elements of our game that don't hurt you at home but will kill you on the road. We have to get that cleaned up."

On the tying goal, Dallas had an extra skater with Niemi pulled and Oleksiak sent the puck at the net from the left point and it got past Blues goalie Jake Allen for his fourth career goal -- third against St. Louis.

"I don't come into games thinking (anything) but I was fortunate to get a couple of bounces here and I think I just do what I can," Oleksiak said. "Obviously I have some familiarity with this team. We play them a lot and played them in the playoffs last year and you kind of learn some tendencies and you kind of learn where to be in certain situations."

Robby Fabbri, Alex Pietrangelo and David Perron also scored for St. Louis, and Allen finished with 18 saves.


Islanders 2, Flames 1

The New York Islanders have found their footing in Brooklyn once again, and the road-weary Calgary Flames don't feel too bad about Monday night's result, either.

Thomas Hickey scored 1:53 into overtime, helping the Islanders rebound from a vexing West Coast trip with a 2-1 win over the Flames.

Hickey won it after Flames forward Michael Frolik broke a stick in the defensive end, leading to an awkward line change for Calgary. Islanders captain John Tavares wheeled around the zone with the Flames momentarily short-handed before backhanding a shot that Hickey tipped off goalie Brian Elliott and in.

"I was glad to get a stick on it in overtime," Hickey said. "This was a game we had to have."

New York improved to 3-1-0 in home games following a road loss by relieving frustration from a wild swing through California. They beat Anaheim in a 14-round shootout but then lost twice on goals in the final 3 minutes of regulation against Los Angeles and San Jose.


Monday, November 28 Scoreboard

New York Islanders 2, Calgary 1 (OT)

St. Louis 4, Dallas 3 (OT)


Tuesday, November 29 Schedule (All Times Central)

Carolina at New York Rangers, 6 p.m.

Tampa Bay at Columbus, 6 p.m.

Boston at Philadelphia, 6:30 p.m.

Buffalo at Ottawa, 6:30 p.m.

Dallas at Detroit, 6:30 p.m.

New Jersey at Winnipeg, 7 p.m.

Florida at Chicago, 7:30 p.m.

Nashville at Colorado, 8 p.m.

Toronto at Edmonton, 8 p.m.

Minnesota at Vancouver, 9 p.m.

Montreal at Anaheim, 9 p.m.

Arizona at San Jose, 9 p.m.