BOX SCORE
By RUSTY MILLER
AP
Sports Writer
COLUMBUS,
Ohio (AP) -- It's way too early to declare a winner in
the Feb. 19 trade between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis
Blues.
But the Columbus Blue Jackets think they know
who got the best of the deal.
Chris Stewart flicked
in a backhander 54 seconds into overtime to cap a Blues comeback for a
4-3 victory over the Blue Jackets on Wednesday
night.
Stewart's second goal of the game came as he
crashed the net on a rush from the left wing, the puck wafting over the
right shoulder of goalie Mathieu Garon and nearly knocking his water
bottle to the ice.
"He kind of tensed up to block
it," Stewart said about Garon. "I saw an opportunity to make a move to
my backhand. He bit. That's something I work on in the summertime. It's
more of a men's league move. That's the first time I've tried to use it
in the NHL."
Stewart's inspired move erased what had
been a 3-0 Columbus lead at one point, and what was a two-goal
advantage heading into the third period.
"In the
third period, we knew we were going to have to play," Blues coach Davis
Payne said. "We knew we wanted keep working and let effort create
results. Our guys did that. We found a way to get to overtime and then
a great play on a rush advantage gives us the
win."
Stuck in a scoring slump, Stewart was dealt by
the Avalanche to the Blues along with Kevin Shattenkirk for 2006 No. 1
pick Erik Johnson and Jay McClement.
So far, Stewart
has been terrific for the Blues. He has three goals and two assists in
a four-game points streak and also pleased the hometown fans with his
fighting ability in a 5-4 shootout win over Columbus just two nights
earlier.
The Blue Jackets were stuck trying to
explain their late collapse.
"For about 33 minutes
we did everything we wanted to do -- we played hard, created chances,
had some opportunities and scored some goals," said coach Scott Arniel.
"For the remaining 27 minutes, we stopped playing. We made lots of
mistakes. We got careless and got away from what we were doing right in
the first half of the game."
Ian Cole had a goal and
an assist and Alex Pietrangelo also scored for the Blues. Jaroslav
Halak, returning after missing 11 games because of a cracked bone in
his hand, made 19 saves.
Jake Voracek, R.J. Umberger
and Derek MacKenzie scored for Columbus, which has dropped six in a
row.
"It was a tough game to lose," MacKenzie
said.
The game featured two teams struggling to
remain in the Western Conference playoff chase. It might have been the
crowning blow to the Blue Jackets' hopes.
"We have
to be better," said Columbus forward Scottie Upshall, acquired in a
trade-deadline deal with Phoenix. "It was a great start and a poor
finish. This time of year you have to be able to put forth your best
effort every night. Tonight was kind of an off
game."
Down 3-1 coming into the third period, the
Blues pulled even within 6 minutes.
Cole, who had a
goal waved off in the opening period, picked up his first career tally
when his hard slap shot from the right side glanced off of Garon's
shoulder and tumbled into the net.
Controlling the
puck, the Blues squared things when Stewart scored on a tip off another
hard Cole shot.
After a scoreless first period, the
Blue Jackets reeled off three goals in the middle period in a span of
6:24.
Late in the period, the Blues cut the gap to
two goals on Pietrangelo's rocket from near the right hash
marks.
"From that point forward we did enough things
right to get ourselves back into the hockey game," Payne said. "The 3-1
goal was a big one to take into the locker room, to be on the board
there."
NOTES: The game
was the Blue Jackets' 400th at Nationwide Arena. They are 192-154-54.
... Blues C Alexander Steen sustained a lower-body injury in the second
period. ... Garon, playing for only the seventh time in Columbus' last
23 games, finished with 22 saves.
Updated
March 9,
2011
