For 17 seconds on Tuesday night, the Penguins dominated the St. Louis Blues. For the rest of the 60:18 the Penguins and Blues played, the Blues kept the Penguins off the board and peppered Marc-Andre Fleury with scoring chances.
The Blues out shot the Penguins 33-26 in regulation, and with the score knotted at 2-2, Alexander Steen redirected Zbynek Michalek’s wrist shot past Fleury to give the Blues a 3-2 overtime victory at Consol Energy Center.
After a scoreless first period – the Penguins 10th first period without a goal in their last 11 games – the Penguins had their short-lived offensive outburst in the early second period.
At 8:41 of the middle frame, Daniel Winnik raced up the left-wing boards into the Blues zone with a step on St. Louis defenseman Petteri Lindbohm. Lindbohm dove forward to prevent Winnik from making a cross-ice pass, but Winnik made an acrobatic play to avoid Lindbohm’s stick and found Blake Comeau crashing the net, who deposited it behind Blues rookie goaltender Jake Allen to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
On the very next shift, Beau Bennett forced a turnover in the St. Louis zone. The puck came up the wall to Nick Spaling, who fed Steve Downie right on top the Allen’s crease. Downie turned around and bounced a shot off the far pad of a sprawling Allen and into the net. It was Spaling’s second assist of the night.
The Penguins lead was short-lived, as a pair of former Penguins conspired to even the score by the end of the period. At 14:52 of the second period, the Blues charged into the Penguins zone on a 3-on-2 rush. Steen got of a solid shot on Fleury, but the Penguins netminder made the save, and a mad scramble ensued. Eventually, the puck was shuffled back to Robert Bortuzzo, who fired a heavy one-timer that went off the crossbar and in behind an out-of-sorts Fleury.
Just two and a half minutes later, Ryan Reaves took the puck hard to the Penguins net. Fleury poke checked the puck past his defensemen and right to Marcel Goc, who ripped it right back into the Penguins net and tied the game at 2-2.
The Penguins had three chances on the power play, but couldn’t crack the Blues defense, getting only two shots on goal in their three opportunities. The Blues did not get a power play in the game.
Steen’s redirection came on the first shot of the overtime period. Michalek, yet another former Penguins player, got the primary assist and Blues captain David Backes had the second assist.
Allen earned the win in his first game against the Penguins, making 24 saves. Fleury was the victim of another tough-luck loss, making 32 saves in the losing effort.
Despite the loss, the Penguins gained a valuable point in the standings. The second-place New York Islanders also lost in overtime on Tuesday, so the Penguins remain two points behind the Islanders with a game in hand.
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