Ryan O’Reilly scored the only shootout goal as the St. Louis Blues edged the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 on Tuesday.
The Blues rallied from an early three-goal deficit to force overtime. They have won back-to-back games for the first time since their 5-0 start in October.
O’Reilly’s shootout tally was a perfectly placed shot inside the left post. He also scored in regulation for the Blues, along with Logan Brown and Ivan Barbashev. Goaltender Jordan Binnington made 30 saves before blanking the Lightning in the shootout.
Anthony Cirelli, Corey Perry and Erik Cernak scored for the Lightning, who have earned points in 13 of their last 15 games. Taylor Raddysh had two assists and Brian Elliott made 30 saves.
The Lightning played without captain Steven Stamkos, who is on paternity leave, and injured stars Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point. But they dominated the early action and broke out to a 3-0 lead just 5:29 into the game.
Their first goal came during a goal-mouth scramble. After Victor Hedman’s shot from the left circle was deflected straight up, Cirelli swatted it out of midair.
Perry made it 2-0 by tapping in a power-play goal at the right post. That extended his point streak to five games.
Then Cernak, just off the injured list, scored the third goal only five seconds later on a fluke play. His dump-in took a funky bounce off a stanchion and skipped through Binnington’s legs.
O’Reilly got the Blues on the board 3:15 into the second period. Jordan Kyrou curled along the outside of the right circle and set up O’Reilly with a cross-ice pass.
Brown, playing his first game for the Blues after his promotion from the AHL, cut the deficit to 3-2. Off the rush, he converted Oskar Sundqvist’s drop pass in the left circle.
Barbashev tied the game 3-3 with a power-play goal 1:11 into the third period. Scott Perunovich maneuvered in from the blue line and fed Barbashev for a one-time shot from the slot.
–Field Level Media
