BOSTON _ The Blues' modus operandi in their successful homestand was to stick with what they do best and wear teams down, winning the games in the final 30 minutes.
They did that again on Tuesday, grinding away at the Bruins after falling behind twice and pulling out a 4-2 win that snapped a four-game road losing streak. The win gave the Blues' their fourth straight win, a season high, heading into a game on Wednesday night at Washington.
"We've made the other teams crack by keeping the pressure up, keeping the good play up and not cracking ourselves," coach Ken Hitchcock said.
For once, the team's play on the road matched what they had done at home. On an emotional night that saw a reunion with former captain David Backes, who left as a free agent in the offseason and signed with Boston and who, somewhat poetically, scored the game's first goal, the Blues again didn't crack. An unlikely goal by Robert Bortuzzo, who has scored eight goals in his career, with the two most recent coming against Boston, tied the game and Paul Stastny put the Blues ahead late in the second. Jori Lehtera had two goals, including an empty-netter with 1:16 to go to seal it. Colton Parayko had two assists and Vladimir Tarasenko had an assist, giving him 11 points in his past eight games. Jake Allen stopped all 16 shots he saw in the third period to seal it. It was the fourth straight game where the Blues haven't allowed a goal in the third period.
Backes' goal came on a power play which followed a disaster shift from the Blues in which they gave away the puck three times before Nail Yakupov was called for holding the stick. On the ensuing power play, David Perron had a chance to clear the puck but had it taken from him by Patrice Bergeron, who passed to Torey Krug, who shot from the blue line. Backes tipped the shot and Jake Allen made the save, but Backes slapped in the rebound, snapping his stick in half in the process. The Blues gave the play a long look to decide if they should challenge, but it appeared that the stick broke when he hit the puck and then Allen's pads. Backes picked up the two pieces of his stick and skated away, showing a very subdued celebration.
The goal was also historic. It marked the 20,000th in Blues history, making them just the second team, behind Montreal, with that many.
Backes knew it was going to be an emotional night. The day before, he hosted eight Blues players _ Jay Bouwmeester, David Perron, Kyle Brodziak, Ryan Reaves, Parayko, Jaden Schwartz, Dmitrij Jaskin and Alex Pietrangelo, plus trainer Ray Barile _ for dinner at his new house. The rest of the team he didn't see until he was on the ice. The Bruins had their morning skate at their practice facility while the Blues skated at TG Garden, ensuring the two groups wouldn't cross paths.
The road has not had the magic that the Blues have had on the road. After going 0-2 on their last trip, the Blues came home and played beautifully, going 3-0. Now, they're back on the road, where they were 2-5-1 coming into the season.
Backes had a busy first period, getting called for hooking Yakupov with 9:27 to go, but the Bruins outshot the Blues 3-2 in those two minutes. About two minutes after the penalty ended, Schwartz had a breakaway but Boston goalie Tuukka Rask made a glove save to deny the Blues on their best scoring chance of the period.
The Blues tied the game 3 { minutes into the second period when Jori Lehtera, providing traffic in front of Rask, had a Parayko slapshot nick off his body and past Rask. The Bruins challenged for goalie interference, which was denied, but even then, Bruins coach Claude Julian was arguing the matter. It didn't change anything and the game was even at 1.
Power plays were not a high point for the Blues. They had another man advantage with 11:40 to go in the second when Lehtera tried to move the puck along the blue line, only to have Riley Nash break it up and spring Dominic Moore for a breakaway. He beat Allen to put Boston back in the lead.
And then the game changed. With 6:01 to go, Patrik Berglund took a shot from the blue line. Rask made the save and then swatted the puck toward the corner to his right, but right to Robert Bortuzzo. The defenseman with seven career goals coming into the night swept the puck in off his backhand from a tough angle behind Rask and just inside the far post to tie the game. Bortuzzo was, needless to say, pumped.
About two minutes later, the Blues took their first lead of the night. Schwartz took a shot, the rebound came to Paul Stastny, and he put in the rebound, again behind Rask. Nail Yakupov, who didn't play much of the second period _ he was on the ice for just four shifts and 2:28 of ice time _ was on the ice for the two goals.
Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara left the game in the second period to an injury, and in the third period, Hitchcock restructured all of his lines. Yakupov moved up with Fabbri and Lehtera, Perron took Yakupov's spot and Tarasenko skated on Stastny's line.
