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Blues halt road slide with late goals in third

Jan 10, 2009 - 7:13 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Mats Sundin was brought in to help the Vancouver Canucks post victories. In his home debut with the club, the veteran Swede cost it a win.

Brad Boyes snapped a tie late in the third period with a power-play goal and B.J. Crombeen scored 21 seconds later as the St. Louis Blues skated to a 6-4 victory over the Canucks on Friday.

David Backes and rookie Patrik Berglund each recorded a goal and an assist and All-Star Keith Tkachuk set up a pair of tallies for the Blues, who halted a seven-game road losing streak.

"We went on a stretch where it seemed like no matter what we did, we couldn't buy a win," Backes said. "Now, we're finding ways to close teams out in third periods, and I think that's a character of a winning team."

Alex Steen and T.J. Oshie also scored and Manny Legace made 18 saves for St. Louis, which had lost 10 of its previous 13 contests.

"The last three games that we played have just been solid games," Legace said. "I take my hat off to the guys. They could have easily folded their tent with a talented hockey squad like that across the hall. ... We just didn't say quit. We just kept firing and kept firing, and we got a couple lucky calls at the end there and we took advantage of it."

Defenseman Willie Mitchell registered two goals and an assist, Daniel Sedin netted a tally and set up another and Jannik Hansen also scored for the Canucks, who fell to 3-4-2 in their last nine and host the league-leading San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

"I thought our compete level compared to theirs was not good enough, without a doubt," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "I don't know for what reason. Most of the time, 95 percent of the time, I can say about this group that our compete level is very high. Tonight, we got outcompeted in all areas of the puck.

"We're going to have to be a lot better tomorrow. We think this was embarrassing."

Signed to a one-year contract on December 18, Sundin - who has averaged better than a point per game during his 17-year career - was kept off the scoresheet in his debut with Vancouver on Wednesday, a 4-2 victory.

Donning a Canucks jersey for the first time at General Motors Place on Friday, the 37-year-old was wearing goat horns when the final buzzer sounded.

Less than two minutes after Sedin forged a 4-4 tie with a power-play goal, Sundin was whistled for slashing Blues rookie defenseman Tyson Strachan with 2 1/2 minutes remaining in the third period.

"It was on his stick," Sundin said of his slash. "It was a battle for the puck. Obviously, when the stick breaks, that's a rule that's a penalty, so there's not much to say about that.

"There's going to be a lot of ups and downs as we go on, but it's nice to get a chance to play again right away tomorrow."

Just 20 seconds later, Boyes fired a one-timer past goaltender Jason LaBarbera from the left faceoff circle for his 19th goal, giving St. Louis the lead.

"Usually in life, you get what you deserve. I thought we were deserving," blues coach Andy Murray said. "We played better than Vancouver did tonight. ... At the end, our goal was to try and quite the building down, and it was kind of nice to see people leaving with about 30 seconds left."

Moments after the ensuing faceoff, Crombeen converted a pass from Tkachuk during a 2-on-1 to double the advantage.

"Give credit to our guys," Backes said. "(The Canucks are) a tenacious team that kept coming and kept coming, and we answered the bell this time. ... It's a sign of guys learning and the character of this team that's developing. That's something we need to have every night in order to be successful in this league and start climbing the standings."

Vancouver entered the first intermission with a 2-1 edge as Hansen and Mitchell sandwiched goals around one by Backes. Recalled from the minors on Thursday, Hansen opened the scoring at 9:52 with a wrist shot from above the slot that caromed off the crossbar and into the net.

"(I was) coming across and shot the puck, and it catches (Legace) over the shoulder," Hansen said.

With 19 seconds remaining in the period, Mitchell backhanded his own rebound toward the net from the right side. Attempting to knock away the puck with his blocker, Legace instead had it go in.

"Those kinds of goals can really deflate a team," Backes said. "We had to gather our bearings after the first and get that back."

Berglund and Steen tallied 59 seconds apart late in the middle session to put the Blues in front.

Mitchell completed his first career two-goal performance with a slap shot from the left point 87 seconds into the third to forge a 3-3 tie, but Oshie buried a rebound with 5:43 remaining to restore St. Louis' lead.

"It felt great, especially with all the support I had coming up from Washington," said Oshie, a native of Mount Vernon, Washington. "Family and friends, old coaches and old teammates. It was great to get out there and get a win for them."

Sedin again knotted the contest with 4:13 to go, tipping defenseman Kevin Bieksa's one-timer from the blue line past Legace during a man advantage.