ST. LOUIS _ Scottie Upshall found himself an unlikely member of the Blues' top line and he became the hero of the night when he finished off a nice end-to-end play midway through the third period to give the Blues a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night at Scottrade Center.
On a night the Blues dressed just 11 forwards to give them cover in case the returning Jay Bouwmeester had an injury recurrence, the concept of regular lines went out the window. Upshall, a mainstay of the team's fourth line, found himself getting shifts with Brayden Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko in the third period and they teamed up for the game-winner.
The Blues won a battle for the puck in their own end, and Tarasenko played the puck up to Schenn, who brought the puck into the zone and fed Upshall flying down the left wing, and he beat Carolina goalie Scott Darling at the 8:58 mark for the lead.
The Blues had lost two in a row and five of their past six as they slipped to third in the Central Division. Kyle Brodziak and Patrik Berglund had the other goals for the Blues. This was their last game for 2017 and their 41st of the season, putting them officially at the halfway mark with 50 points. Last year, they had 47 points after 41 games.
The finish got a little dicey when Carolina pulled Darling and then Brodziak was called for delay of game for putting the puck over the glass with 1:12 to play, giving Carolina a two-man advantage for the final 72 seconds.
Derek Ryan and Lucas Wallmark each scored a goal for the Hurricanes.
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