Elliott, Blues prevail in goaltending duel against Mason and the Flyers
ST. LOUIS -- Brian Elliott got his groove back at home just in time to treat a sellout crowd to an elite goaltending duel.
Philadelphia's Steve Mason may have actually looked more impressive, diving all over the ice to withstand an increasingly heavy onslaught from the Blues' attack. But Elliott stood tall at his end and made every save, eventually leading St. Louis to a 1-0 shootout win at Scottrade Center on Thursday night.
"Both goalies, they were standing on their heads," forward Ryan Reaves said. "(Elliott) played unbelievable for us. He looked like he was a wall over there."
Two saves in the shootout following goals by T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko sent St. Louis, at least temporarily, into a tie for first place in the Western Conference with Nashville and Anaheim. Elliott has been critical to the Blues' ascent to the top of the standings, winning five games since the All-Star break when St. Louis scored two goals or less.
But the first four of those came on the road, and prior to Thursday, the Blues' goaltender had posted a dismal .870 save percentage in six starts in St. Louis since the All-Star break. He looked much sharper from the opening faceoff against the Flyers, beginning with a quality save on Jakub Voracek's shot during an early power play.
Elliott showed off his quick glove on countless occasions throughout a somewhat busy 65 minutes en route to tying the franchise record with his 20th shutout in a Blues uniform. He finished with 28 saves and made a point to credit his teammates for their help in keeping Philadelphia scoreless.
"There was a lot of blocked shots, a lot of sacrifices," Elliott said. "It makes my job a lot easier and I can just focus on the puck."
Jake Allen will surely be called upon to make a few more starts this season, particularly since the Blues start a brutal stretch of seven games in 11 days on Saturday against Minnesota. But Elliott could start a fifth straight game for the first time all year, and he certainly looks ready to step into a bigger role.
As St. Louis fights for a top seed with 15 games to go, his timing couldn't be better.
HAT TRICK
• Penalties piling up. The parade of penalties continued for the Blues early in a hard-fought game.
Coach Ken Hitchcock said he talked to his team Wednesday about being overly aggressive in its pursuit of opponents after giving up five power plays for the second straight game Tuesday against Winnipeg. St. Louis didn't seem to get the message in the first period, when it picked up three more penalties against Philadelphia.
An unnecessary holding-the-stick call against Steve Ott deep in the offensive zone and a blatant cross check on Robert Bortuzzo probably won't sit well with the coaches when they go back and watch the film. Barret Jackman's slashing penalty off a faceoff in the defensive zone may have been more excusable, and Reaves appeared to have a strong argument after he got charged with an interference call in the second period.
But even against the fourth-best power-play unit in the league, the St. Louis penalty kill held strong. The Blues have given up just one goal on their opponents' last 22 power plays, dating to a 5-2 loss to Montreal on Feb. 24.
• 700 for Hitchcock. Hitchcock reached another milestone in his impressive career.
He became just the fourth coach to win 700 games in his career, joining Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour and current Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. Hitchcock's last 167 wins have come with St. Louis, his fourth team in his 18 seasons.
"It's been fun," Hitchcock said. "It doesn't feel very long. I've really enjoyed most of the stops and I've really enjoyed working with this group, so hopefully we continue to build on what we've got."
The elite company didn't really affect Hitchcock emotionally until earlier this season, when he won his 684th game to tie Pat Quinn, who died last November. Hitchcock served as an assistant to Quinn on the Canadian national team that won an Olympic gold medal in 2002.
Hitchcock has won fewer than 40 games only once in 11 full 82-game seasons, and the Blues improved to 43-19-5 with Thursday's win.
• Missing chances. The Blues couldn't have asked for better opportunities to earn two points in regulation, but somehow the puck stayed out of the net.
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Forward Dmitrij Jaskin said Mason needed a little luck to earn his third shutout of the season, although he also made several outstanding saves, even going down at full stretch to stop shots from Jaskin and Jori Lehtera. But Mason also got beat twice when Alexander Steen hit the post to extend his season-long streak of games without a goal to 12.
"I just thought as the game went on we just got better and better and better," Hitchcock said. "Our third period was our best, but even in saying that, you've got to take it to a shootout."
The Blues fired 17 shots on goal in the third period and finished with 35 for the game, their most without scoring since an Oct. 16 game at Los Angeles. That one also went to a shootout, but the Kings prevailed to earn the two points.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
