Oshie's shootout goal gives Blues victory over Hurricanes
Vladimir Tarasenko tied it early in the third period and T.J. Oshie had the lone goal in a shootout to lift the St. Louis Blues to a tougher-than-expected 5-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.
Jake Allen allowed one goal after replacing Brian Elliott after the Hurricanes scored on three of their first 10 shots and took a 3-1 lead.
The Blues have won four in a row but got a tough matchup from Carolina, in last place in the Metropolitan Division. St. Louis had won each of the previous three by five or more goals for the first time in franchise history.
Oshie beat Cam Ward to open the shootout with his characteristic slow-motion approach.
Carolina, 3-1-1 in January after a 3-10-1 December, got goals from Victor Rask, Jeff Skinner, Eric Stahl and Riley Nash.
Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester had an apparent game-winner disallowed with 1:52 remaining in overtime because Patrik Berglund was in the crease. Berglund, Alexander Steen and Jaden Schwartz had a goal apiece and Alex Pietrangelo had two assists.
The Blues' two first-time All-Stars were scoreless until Tarasenko got his 23rd goal off a stretch pass from Kevin Shattenkirk.
St. Louis had allowed just 28 first-period goals all season before springing leaks that led to Brian Elliott getting yanked early. Stahl's breakaway capitalized on a tumble by Shattenkirk after David Backes' blind centering pass cleared the offensive zone.
Hurricanes coach Ron Francis used his timeout after Schwartz scored his 14th off a giveaway by Stahl and Berglund tied it at 5:01 of the second.
Carolina regained the lead on Nash's goal out of a scrum late in the second.
NOTES: The Flames were the last team to win three in a row by five or more goals, doing it March 24-28, 1999. ... The Blues have eight players with 25 or more points, most in the NHL according to STATS, with Pietrangelo hitting that milestone. ... Stahl has a goal in three straight games. ... Berglund has a goal in two straight but just six on the season. ... Attendance of 19,411 was the Blues' seventh of the season.
