• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

McDonald nets winner as Blues top Blackhawks in OT

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:48 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Blues ended their road trip on a winning note.

Andy McDonald scored his second goal of the game at 2:15 of overtime, lifting the Blues to a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.

David Perron and rookie Cam Paddock also scored and Lee Stempniak collected three assists for St. Louis, which halted a six-game winless streak (0-5-1).

"We have worked hard on this whole five-game trip, so tonight we finally got rewarded because we stuck with it," Blues coach Andy Murray said.

Manny Legace made 32 saves for the Blues in a game that saw four fights break out within a four-minute span in the first period.

"It's been a struggle for us of late," Legace said. "Fortunately, we got some breaks. It's a case of us continuing to work hard and not getting down on ourselves."

Dave Bolland netted a pair of goals and set up another and Dustin Byfuglien also tallied for the Blackhawks, who fell to 2-1-1 on their five-game homestand.

Hoping to salvage the finale of their trek after going 0-3-1 over the first four games, the Blues started off strong as McDonald and Perron scored on consecutive shots early in the first period.

"There was a lot of intensity from the start," McDonald said. "We came out and played the way we needed to play, especially with how things have gone of late for us."

After McDonald beat Nikolai Khabibulin with a wrist shot while shorthanded at 3:49, Perron regained possession of the puck after his initial shot was blocked and put a wrister past the goaltender at 6:19 for a 2-0 lead.

Byfuglien halved the deficit 50 seconds later, converting a cross-slot pass from the left faceoff circle by Andrew Ladd during a 2-on-1 rush for his second goal of the season. But Paddock, who was playing in his first NHL game, restored St Louis' two-goal bulge with 9:36 remaining in the session, whacking the puck past Khabibulin while on the ice on the left side of the net.

"It's a dream come true, and I enjoyed every second of the game," Paddock said. "I'm happy that my first one comes in a win and I could contribute."

"We didn't come out and have a good first period," Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "I hope we didn't underestimate them. The way we played is unacceptable."

Just 21 seconds afterward, the ice surface at the United Center began resembling a boxing ring. Defensemen Jeff Woywitka of the Blues and Brent Seabrook of the Blackhawks were the first to square off, and Chicago blue-liner Cam Barker battled David Backes 22 seconds later.

Eleven more seconds were played before Byfuglien took on veteran Keith Tkachuk, and St. Louis' Cam Janssen and Chicago's Ben Eager wrapped up the fightfest with 5:24 left in the period.

"We had to respond like that," McDonald said. "Our guys came out and showed some passion. We've had bad starts lately. We needed to come out like that."

Still realizing they were down two goals, the Blackhawks turned to Bolland to get them back in the game.

"That showed a lot of character to come back and play the way we did," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "The guys who dropped the gloves deserve a lot of credit. That was a big part of us coming back."

With teammate Seabrook in the penalty box for interference, Bolland raced in on a breakaway. His stuff attempt caromed off the right goalpost but slid across the crease before hitting Legace's right skate and entering the net at 6:05 of the second period, drawing Chicago within 3-2.

Having gotten the monkey off his back with his first goal of the season, Bolland cashed in again early in the third, when he converted a pass from behind the net by Ladd at 2:41 to forge a tie.

But Bolland went from hero to goat in overtime as he was whistled for hooking 67 seconds into the extra session. With just under a minute remaining on the penalty, McDonald one-timed a pass by Stempniak between the pads of Khabibulin from the right circle, sending the Blues to their first win since October 25.

"It's tough to lose the way we did," Bolland said. "I think I played the best game I've played all year, but I have to learn from this. The (penalty) call could have gone either way."

"Our power play has been strong," McDonald said. "We started off not getting chances, and then Lee did a great job getting a guy out of the way. And Keith did a nice job in front of the net."

The goal was St. Louis' first on six man-advantage opportunities.

"I liked our power play tonight, even though we gave up a shorthanded goal," Murray said. "Our power play gave us the key goal at the end."