Tarasenko Guides Blues Past Blackhawks

By ESPN

Vladimir Tarasenko looked quite comfortable at Busch Stadium. It turns out his wicked wrist shot works outside, too.

Tarasenko scored two goals in the third period, Jake Allen stopped 22 shots and the St. Louis Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 in the Winter Classic on Monday at the longtime home of baseball's St. Louis Cardinals.

Tarasenko is "a hungry offensive player. He sniffs out coverage issues and he jumps on it," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "When he's engaged like he was today and like he's been for the most part this year, he's dangerous. He's always one shift away from breaking the thing wide open."

As usual, Tarasenko deflected the attention away from himself.

"It's not about my goals. We have a great team and a great goalie," he said. "It was a great win for us and everyone played their best."

It was 46 degrees when play began before a sellout crowd of 46,556, the sixth largest for a Winter Classic. It was the 21st regular-season outdoor NHL game.

Bobby Hull and son Brett dropped the ceremonial first puck. Bobby wore a Blackhawks jersey and Brett wore the Blues sweater.

The Blues went ahead 2-1 when Tarasenko made a backhand pass that hit the skate of Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and slipped by Corey Crawford at 12:05 of the third.

"That's one of those few guys in the league that has a shot that's more than above average and he doesn't have to wind up to get a big shot away," Hjalmarsson said. "So he can shoot it from anywhere and that's what makes him so dangerous."

Tarasenko then scored on a wrist shot over Crawford's shoulder at 13:58, giving him 18 goals this season. Robbi Fabbri assisted on both goals.

"It's no secret. He's got probably one of the best wristers in the league and everyone knows when he's out there," Crawford said. "Everyone knows what he can do."

The Blues added an empty-net goal by Alexander Steen at 18:46 to seal the victory.

"I thought we played a great game," Hitchcock said. "I thought we played a smart, sound hockey game and quite frankly, deserved to win."

St. Louis tied it at 1 at 7:45 of the second period. From behind the net, Jay Bouwmeester fed Patrick Berglund in the slot. Berglund one-timed the pass for his sixth goal this season. Steen got the second assist on the goal, the 300th of his career.

The Blackhawks scored 62 seconds into the game. Michal Kempny hit a slap shot from just inside the blue line that bounced and wobbled and went off the top of Allen's glove. Kempny got the puck on a pass from behind the net by Artemi Panarin.

It was Kempny's second goal of the season. He did not score in his first 24 games. Now he has scored in his last two games.

Crawford, who faced 34 shots, made his best save when he denied Tarasenko on a breakaway three minutes into the third period.

Monday, January 2 Scoreboard

St. Louis 4, Chicago 1

New Jersey 3, Boston 0

Vancouver 3, Colorado 2

Tuesday, January 3 Schedule (All Times Central)

Buffalo at New York Rangers, 6 p.m.

Toronto at Washington, 6 p.m.

New Jersey at Carolina, 6 p.m.

Edmonton at Columbus, 6 p.m.

Winnipeg at Tampa Bay, 6:30 p.m.

Montreal at Nashville, 7 p.m.

Los Angeles at San Jose, 9 p.m.