ST. LOUIS — Scottie Upshall scored midway through the third period to break a tie and give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 win Saturday night over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The win was only the second in their last seven games by the Blues and snapped a season-high four-game winning streak by the Hurricanes.
Upshall’s goal at 8:58, off a pass from Brayden Schenn, beat goalie Scott Darling and marked the first time the Blues scored three goals in regulation, not including an empty-net goal, in their last 11 games.
The Hurricanes had rallied to tie the game with a pair of second-period goals. They cut the Blues’ lead to 2-1 on a goal by Derek Ryan at 8:00, just 10 seconds after he completed serving a minor penalty.
On that power play, a shot by the Blues’ Colton Parayko knocked the stick out of Darling’s hands and he could not retrieve it for more than a minute but the Blues were unable to get a shot on goal against the stickless Darling.
Lucas Wallmark, playing his first game of the season for the Hurricanes, scored his first NHL goal to tie the game at 13:58 when he redirected a pass from Noah Hanifin past goalie Carter Hutton.
The Blues had built their lead with goals inside the first minute in each of the first two periods. Just 43 seconds into the game, Kyle Brodziak converted a pass from Alexander Steen from behind the net and then 42 seconds into the second period, Patrik Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo worked a perfect 2-on-1, with Berglund getting the goal.
NOTES: The Blues activated D Jay Bouwmeester from injured reserve and assigned D Jordan Schmaltz to San Antonio of the AHL. Bouwmeester has played in only 11 of the Blues’ first 41 games. … Wallmark, who played eight games last season, replaced LW Phillip Di Giuseppe in the Hurricanes‘ lineup. … Darling played in his 100th career game. … The Hurricanes return home to play the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night while the Blues’ homestand continues Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils.
