• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Last-place Blues stun Bruins in shootout

Jan 19, 2009 - 11:24 PM By Tony Lee PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BOSTON (Ticker) - The Boston Bruins seemingly were winners again - until David Backes and the lowly St. Louis Blues had one last swipe.

Backes scored a shocking goal with less than one second left in regulation and shootout tallies from T.J. Oshie and Brad Boyes propelled the Blues to an improbable 5-4 victory over the Bruins, who blew a two-goal lead in the final two minutes of regulation on Monday.

While the win was an unlikely one for the Western Conference doormats on the ice of the East's best team, how it occurred will be talked about for a long time.

Backes' tally - his 16th of the season - will be the focus of the conversation.

"We were all just trying, really all desperate there at the end trying to get anything we could get going," said Backes, who batted a floating puck out of the air past All-Star Tim Thomas with 0.8 seconds remaining.

Following a five-minute review, the referees allowed the goal, ruling that the puck was not directed with a high stick.

The Bruins (33-8-5) scored three times in a span of 99 seconds to turn a one-goal deficit into a 4-2 lead on All-Star defenseman Zdeno Chara's 10th goal of the season with 3:05 remaining.

The TD Banknorth Garden crowd, relatively quiet throughout most of a lackluster game, came to life.

But David Perron converted a power-play tally with 1:40 left, pulling St. Louis within 4-3 and setting up the wild finish.

The Blues first saw Boston rookie Blake Wheeler miss an empty net shot with 22 seconds left and then used an extra attacker to pressure Thomas on a final rush.

Veteran Keith Tkachuk got a shot on Thomas with about two seconds left that bounced into the air in front of Backes as the clock hit 19:59. But just before the last tick went off, Backes slapped the puck past Thomas for the equalizer.

"It looks like at one angle, the stick is well below (the crossbar) and the other angles, you're not as sure," St. Louis coach Andy Murray said. "They couldn't prove anything so the referees on the ice thought it was a goal."

Bruins coach Claude Julien was expecting the ruling to be changed.

"Everybody except the people in charge don't happen to think it was a goal," Julien said. "They're the ones who decide it and they called it inconclusive. It goes with what the referee calls initially and he called it a goal. Not much else I can say about it."

After Wheeler failed to convert another good opportunity in the shootout, Oshie beat Thomas easily. Axelsson was stuffed by Chris Mason, who took over for injured starter Manny Legace midway through the first, and former Bruin Boyes completed the stunner by sliding the puck between Thomas' legs.

"Credit to our guys," said Mason, who stopped 21 shots in just under 52 minutes.

"It was a heck of a finish and we didn't give up. We could have easily packed it in there, game over. We just kind of got lucky there and found a way to do it."

Wheeler blamed the loss on himself for the two missed opportunities, a claim his teammates were quick to shoot down.

"Things like that happen," Michael Ryder said. "I can't remember how many open nets I've missed. Things like that happen. It's not the reason we lost the game. It's one of those things. It's not Blake's fault."

Three minutes after Chuck Kobasew opened the scoring for the Bruins, Brad Winchester tied it by tipping in a drive from defenseman Jeff Woywitka.

Jay McClement had his fourth goal of the season 6:51 into the second to give St. Louis a 2-1 edge, a lead that lasted nearly 32 minutes.

Boston was held without a shot for the first 15 minutes of the third period, but Ryder and Axelsson scored power-play goals 19 seconds apart after the Bruins were given a 5-on-3 advantage.

Chara's tally with 3:05 remaining appeared to be the clincher.

"We got ourselves in a position with a two-goal lead with three minutes left," Julien said. "With the type of team we have there is no way they should get back in the game."

Thomas made 27 shots for Boston, which is now 4-3-1 after a 10-game winning streak.