Blues Edge Canadiens, Blackhawks Blank Coyotes

By ESPN

Jaden Schwartz and the St. Louis Blues felt the comeback coming and followed through against the Eastern Conference leaders.

Schwartz completed a late rally with a pair of goals, including one in overtime, to lead the Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.

Paul Stastny also scored for St. Louis, which has won four of five. The Blues charged back from a 2-0 third-period deficit and have a point in their last 13 home games.

Tomas Plekanec and Paul Byron scored for Montreal, which completed a five-game trip 2-3.

Goalie Jake Allen made 28 saves to improve to 13-3-3.

St. Louis struggled through most of the contest, unable to solve backup goaltender Al Montoya until the third period.

"The first two periods didn't go our way," Schwartz said. "But we stayed confident. We didn't panic. We stuck with it -- and got a big comeback win."

Stastny started the rally with a goal at 7:40 of the third period.

"We needed to break the rhythm of the game," Stastny said. "I think my goal kind of opened things up for us. From there, we had a lot of energy. We played a whole different game."

Schwartz tied it 2:51 later to set the stage for his third game-winning goal of the season. He took a pass from Alexander Steen and calmly lifted a backhander past Montoya with 1:22 left in overtime.

Blackhawks 4, Coyotes 0

Marian Hossa was back on top of his game and the Chicago Blackhawks got back in control of theirs.

Hossa had two goals, Scott Darling made 22 saves and the tight-checking Blackhawks beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-0 on Tuesday night to snap a two-game slide.

Artem Anisimov and Dennis Rasmussen also scored to help Chicago maintain a three-point lead over St. Louis in the Central Division.

The 37-year-old Hossa scored his team-leading 13th and 14th goals in his 27th game -- surpassing his total of 13 last season in 64 contests.

"I feel more recharged, and with the puck going in, you feel more confident," Hossa said. "But I try not to be just a goal scorer. I try to play both ways and even if I don't score in a bunch of games, I try to make some plays for the team."

And the Blackhawks turned in one of their better defensive and puck management efforts this season, according to coach Joel Quenneville.

"I like what we gave up tonight -- not much," Quenneville said. "When we check well and don't play much in our own end, we generally play well and we have the puck a lot more. Tonight was a good step."

Darling made a handful of tough stops but wasn't heavily tested in his first shutout this season and third of his career. He started his third straight game in place of No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford, who had an appendectomy in Philadelphia on Saturday.

"I can't remember one extremely good Grade-A chance that we gave up," Darling said. "The guys were great, the D were great, the forwards were great on defense.

"It feels good, especially that one. It was a team shutout."

Tuesday, December 6 Scoreboard

Buffalo 4,  Edmonton 3 (OT)

New Jersey 3, Vancouver 2

New York Islanders 4, New York Rangers 2

Philadelphia 3, Florida 2 (OT)

St. Louis 3, Montreal 2 (OT)

Nashville 4, Colorado 3

Detroit 4,  Winnipeg 3 (SO)

Chicago 4, Arizona 0

Calgary 2, Dallas 1

Wednesday, December 7 Schedule (All Times Central)

Minnesota at Toronto, 6:30 p.m.

Boston at Washington, 7 p.m.

Carolina at Anaheim, 9:30 p.m.

Ottawa at San Jose, 9:30 p.m.