ST. LOUIS _ The first Winter Classic here included pretty much everything that warms a St. Louisan's heart.
Nelly performed before the game. Brett Hull dropped the first puck. Jon Hamm and some Cardinals _ Kolten Wong and Kevin Siegrist were among those in attendance _ watched from the Busch Stadium seats. And there was no shortage of beer.
After the threat of a rain-related postponement or cancellation abated, the only worry was the outcome of the game.
Blues star Vladimir Tarasenko took care of that.
The right wing scored two goals in a span of 1 minute 53 seconds to transform what was a third-period tie into a 4-1 win in front of a sellout crowd of 46,556.
The Blues (20-13-5) won their first-ever Winter Classic after falling behind by a goal early. The Blackhawks (23-12-5) lost their fifth game in six attempts, and fell to 1-4-0 when they play outside.
"I thought we played great today," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who sported a sharp hat. "I thought we ground on them hard. I thought we did a great job getting pucks deep. I thought we really managed the game well. I thought we played a really smart, sound hockey game, and quite frankly, deserved to win."
Tarasenko came close to scoring early in the third period, when he rifled a puck off the pipe. It was a sign of things to come. His 17th and 18th goals of the season followed in rapid-fire fashion. Then Alexander Steen's empty-net goal secured the Blues' 4-1 win.
Blues fans went from wondering if their first Winter Classic would see overtime, to chanting the name of Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford, whose head must still be spinning.
Tarasenko needed some help from the Blackhawks for his first goal. He made it 2-1 Blues when his backhand bounced off the skate of Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and into the goal 12 minutes and 5 seconds into the third period. Robby Fabbri got the assist.
Tarasenko, who now ranks fourth in the league in goals scored this season, used a more traditional approach to make it 3-1 Blues. He rifled one of his feared wrist shots past Crawford 13 minutes and 58 seconds into the third. Assists went to Jori Lehtera and Fabbri.
"Well, he's a hungry offensive player," Hitchcock said. "He's a guy that sniffs out weaknesses, or he sniffs out coverage issues and he jumps on it. And when he's engaged like he was today and like he's been for most part of this year, he's dangerous because he's one shift away from breaking the thing right open. He usually doesn't miss on those breakaways and I thought for sure that was going to be the one. But he was very hungry, he was very heavy and hard on the puck ... those type of players they don't come around very often."
Steen's fourth goal of the season came after Crawford was pulled.
The Blues outshot the Blackhawks and became more aggressive as the game progressed. They threatened to score on multiple power plays. They created flurries in front of the goal. Tarasenko fired again and again before he broke through.
But before they grabbed the momentum, they had to force a tie. Blues center Patrik Berglund put fans on their feet and made the foghorn bellow when he turned a beautiful pass from defenseman Jay Bouwmeester into a game-tying wrist shot 7 minutes and 45 seconds into the second period. Bouwmeester found Berglund from deep behind the net, and Berglund buried it behind Crawford for his sixth goal of the season. Crawford stopped 31 of 34 shots.
An official delay was never announced, but misting rain and fog pushed back the start of the game from noon to 12:32 p.m. The precipitation gathered on players' shields and caused some to worry that the pace would suffer. The Blackhawks dismissed that concern as soon as the puck dropped.
Blackhawks defenseman Michal Kempny silenced the crowd just 62 seconds into the game. His slap shot skipped off the ice then ricocheted off Jake Allen's wrist before finding the back of the net. Kempny's second goal of the season, assisted by Artemi Panarin and Duncan Keith, secured a place in obscure outdoor hockey history. It was the second fastest goal to open an NHL regular-season outdoor game, the NHL announced. Colby Armstrong's goal 21 seconds into the 2008 Winter Classic remains in first place.
Allen settled in after that, stopping the 22 shots that followed.
Tarasenko took care of the rest.
