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Boyes leads Blues past lowly Lightning

Mar 7, 2009 - 4:24 AM TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Brad Boyes scored 26 seconds into overtime, lifting the St. Louis Blues to a 4-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.

Keith Tkachuk, Andy McDonald and David Backes also scored for the Blues, who have won four of five and find themselves within two points of Edmonton, Dallas and Anaheim for the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference playoff picture.

"It was great to see Boyes score that goal in overtime," Tkachuk said. "It was just a relief after they tied it up."

All-Star Martin St. Louis, Matt Pettinger and rookie Steven Stamkos tallied for Tampa Bay, which is 2-6-2 in its last 10 games.

"You're just looking for certain guys to keep working," Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said. "There are a lot of jobs on the line. It was kind of a boring game. It didn't look like there was much passion.

"To play this game, you have to play for something. I think Murphy has played really well for us the last five games. He's been our best defensemen. He has played really well. You have to give him a lot of credit."

Boyes secured the win early in the extra session, accepting a pass from defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo and firing a snap shot from the high slot that sailed by Karri Ramo for his 26th goal of the season.

"Tonight our guys that are offensive leaders were offensive guys and that's what we need for us to be good continually down the stretch," Boyes said. "As of late, we've had other guys chip in and you can't keep relying on guys that do the job defensively to keep scoring.

"We're just playing solid all around and tonight was a good night for our line. Just controlling the puck and getting more chances and hustling. I think that was a big positive for us."

Tkachuk opened the scoring at 5:43 of the second period and McDonald doubled the advantage less than four minutes later with a wrist shot.

Tampa Bay halved the deficit at 3:28 of the third with a power-play goal by St. Louis, but Backes restored the two-goal lead with a tip-in of rookie T.J. Oshie's attempt just under three minutes later.

"I think this is the worst game I've played so far on this team," Ramo said. "Our talk during the second intermission was that we needed to play a lot better and we were a lot better in the third.

"We came back alive, but it was a roller coaster. We need to do it for three periods. A point is a point. We battled back hard and it showed that we're still battling. We were down 2-0 and 3-1, but we didn't quit and battled back."

Chris Mason, who had surrendered one goal in each of his previous five games before fizzling in a 5-0 setback to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday, coughed up the advantage shortly thereafter.

Pettinger netted his third tally of the season with 7:50 left and Stamkos forged a tie with 16 seconds remaining in regulation by unleashing a slap shot from above the left faceoff circle.

Mason made 20 saves, while Ramo finished with 32.