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Blues rally past Oilers

Jan 6, 2012 - 4:54 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Matt D'Agostini scored the game-winning goal, as the St. Louis Blues rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit to defeat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3, at Scottrade Center.

David Backes and Alex Pietrangelo had a goal and an assist apiece, Chris Stewart lit the lamp and Carlo Colaiacovo contributed three assists for the Blues, who have won back-to-back games since dropping three straight. Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves in the victory.

Blues' head coach Ken Hitchcock secured his 550th career win and became just the 11th coach in NHL history to reach that milestone. He also joined Chicago's Joel Quenneville and Toronto's Ron Wilson as the only active coaches to reach 550 wins.

Hitchcock also became the fifth Blues coach in team history to reach the milestone, joining Scotty Bowman (1,244), Al Arbour (782), Mike Keenan (672) and Quenneville (603).

"We were really good in the first," Hitchcock said. "It unraveled in the second big time, then we really played hard in the third period."

Taylor Hall, Ben Eager and Jordan Eberle found the back of the net for the Oilers, who have lost five of their last six games. Devan Dubnyk was touched for all four goals on 37 shots in defeat.

Trailing 3-1 after two periods, St. Louis fought back in the third, scoring three goals in the frame -- including two on the power play -- to steal a victory from the jaws of defeat.

The first man-advantage tally came just 19 seconds into the period when Pietrangelo slapped the puck past Dubnyk from the point with traffic in front to make it 3-2.

The tying power-play goal came at 1:48 of the third when David Perron ripped a slap shot from the point that was tipped in front by Backes and just squeezed between the left arm and body of Dubnyk.

D'Agostini's game-winner followed at 8:59 of the third period when he picked up a loose puck on the right wing, swung behind the net and fired a wrister under the crossbar from the left circle to give the Blues the 4-3 edge.

Edmonton pulled Dubnyk with a minute remaining in regulation and got some quality shots on net with the extra skater, but were unable to find the tying goal.

"The bottom line is you don't want to get penalties in the third period," Oilers head coach Tom Renney said. "The big thing is discipline, first and foremost."

St. Louis opened the scoring at 14:42 of the first stanza when the Blues were able to take advantage of a turnover by Dubnyk.

The Oilers netminder came out to play the puck and sent it up the right wing, but it was intercepted at the point by Stewart, who sent it to Jamie Langenbrunner in the slot before heading to the front of the net. Langenbrunner then found Stewart alone in front and he tapped it into an open net for a 1-0 St. Louis lead.

Edmonton came roaring back in the second period with three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead.

The first goal came at the 5:12 mark on the power play when Hall wristed it past Halak from the point with traffic in front.

Edmonton tallied again 15 seconds later when Eager picked up a loose puck along the right wing and fired a sharp-angle shot on net that got through the bodies in front and past Halak.

The final goal of the period came at the 13:54 mark on the power play when Sam Gagner sent a cross-ice pass from the right wing to left circle for Eberle, who ripped it into the net to give the Oilers the 3-1 advantage.

Game Notes

Thursday marked the second meeting of the season between the teams, Edmonton took the first game of the series, 4-2...St. Louis is 8-0-1 in its last nine home games...St. Louis finished 2-for-6 with the man advantage, while Edmonton was 2-for-5 on the power play...Edmonton will head to Dallas to face the Stars on Saturday, while St. Louis will host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.