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 They got it.
"The best we've played on the road was the first period (Monday),
and probably the worst we've played was the second period (that
night)," coach Ken Hitchcock said after the Blues scored twice in
the third period and hit the NHL's Christmas break with a 2-0
victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. "And then to come
back with a game like today just shows the character that we've got
on the team when we dig in."
Sizzling right winger Vladimir Tarasenko and center Robby Fabbri
scored third-period goals, and goalie Jake Allen stopped 32 shots
for his fifth shutout of the season as the Blues (21-11-4, 10-5-2 on
the road) won their fifth straight game at TD Garden.
"It was a well-played game by both teams," Hitchcock said. "Both
teams really played with a sense of urgency defensively, so if you
were going to score, it was going to have to be a mistake or it was
going to have to be one of those fluky goals -- and the wrong guy
for Boston got the breakaway and made the difference."
Tarasenko, scoring his sixth goal in the last seven games to move
into a tie with Dallas Stars center Jamie Benn for the league lead,
took a pass from left winger Magnus Paajarvi as Tarasenko sliced
through defensemen Dennis Seidenberg and Colin Miller. He went in
alone on goalie Tuukka Rask and scored his 22nd of the season at
7:35 of the third.
The goal extended Tarasenko's points streak to seven games (11
points) and gave him 16 points in the past 13 games.
"They got a break there with their most dangerous guy on a
breakaway," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Tarasenko opened up
the scoring, and that was probably the thing that stung the most."
The Bruins, absorbing only their second regulation loss in the past
16 games, their first since Dec. 7. They were blanked for the first
time this season, saw their three-game winning streak end and fell
to 19-10-4 -- on a night they had a chance to move into first place
in the Atlantic Division.
"I think that's one of the messages I gave the team is that it's not
a fun loss, it stings," Julien said. "We knew what the opportunity
was, but at the same time, let's not forget what's happened here in
the last month and a half or so. We've played some pretty decent
hockey, so sometimes a loss like that just brings you back to
reality."
Fabbri took a long pass from defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and broke
down the left side alone, firing a wrist shot over Rask's glove and
into the top corner with 7:10 left in the game.
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Allen, who tied for the league shutout lead, wasn't all that busy in
his 10th career shutout. His best stops came against right winger
Loui Eriksson in the first period and left wingers Frank Vatrano and
Brad Marchand in the second.
The shutout was the first for the Blues in Boston since 2002.
Not long after the Tarasenko goal, Paajarvi fed center Paul Stastny
in front, and Rask, who made 27 saves as his five-game winning
streak ended, made a huge save to keep the game at 1-0. But his team
couldn't score.
Asked what the Bruins can take out of this game, Seidenberg said, "I
guess the message is don't dwell on this loss too long. Take these
three days off and come back hungry. And keep building on what we've
built these last couple months and just keep being hungry and
playing consistent hockey."
NOTES: Boston LW Max Talbot served the first half of his two-game
suspension for hitting New Jersey's Jiri Tlusty, with LW Zac Rinaldo
coming off IR (after missing three games with an upper body injury)
back in the lineup. ... RW Jordan Caron, a former Bruin, made his
Blues debut Tuesday night after being recalled from the minors. "We
really liked him (in training camp)," said Blues coach Ken
Hitchcock. "We really liked his strength on the puck. He had a slow
start but he's played great down there lately. He deserves a chance
to play." Caron replaced veteran C Scott Gomez in the lineup. ...
Blues D Carl Gunnarsson, who left Monday night's game in
Philadelphia with an arm injury, was out Tuesday but the injury
isn't serious. ... Both teams come out of the Christmas break with
home games Saturday -- the Blues hosting the Dallas Stars and the
Bruins facing the Buffalo Sabres.
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