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CALGARY- T.J. Oshie is one December baby who will not be cheated on his birthday this holiday season after sealing a win and a three-game sweep of Western Canada’s franchises with an unorthodox shootout goal Wednesday.
Oshie, playing on his 23rd birthday, had a potential game-winner skip over his stick in the slot during a double shift that came at the end of the third period when the Blues possessed the puck for more than 60 of the final 90 seconds in regulation. With a two-day break in the NHL schedule in sight, 65 minutes was not enough to decide this game as it headed to a shootout.
Following an elegant forehand-backhand-forehand shootout goal by Brad Boyes and a fast-moving Olli Jokinen drilled the post on a shootout try for Calgary, Oshie lobbed a wrister off of Miikka Kiprusoff’s pad and into the net.
The awkward bounce gave the Blues their first sweep of the three Western Canadian teams in franchise history as they handed Edmonton a 7-2 drubbing Monday, a day after they defeated Vancouver 3-1.
They have won six of seven on the road and stand at 11-3-3 on the year. Strong special teams, tight defense and sharp goaltending were what it took for St. Louis to earn their second victory in three games against the Flames this season, with each game being decided by a lone goal.
“In these last few games, when we put our mind to it and play the way we’re supposed to play, we’ve seen how we’re successful,” Mason told the Associated Press. “These three games in a row have probably been three of our best games of the season.”
The Blues have risen from 30th to 21st in power play percentage recently and while they did not score on the power play for the first time in four games, their penalty kill wiped away two Calgary man advantages with aplomb. They have now killed an impressive 38 of their last 39 penalties.
Calgary’s marquee players were active in this contest as Jay Bouwmeester and Dion Phaneuf each logged over 26 minutes of ice time, including an extended penalty kill where Bouwmeester broke not one but two sticks blocking shots, leaving Calgary with only two penalty killers holding sticks.
Jarome Iginla and Olli Jokinen generated five scoring chances in the first 30 minutes, including two breakaways for Jokinen on which he was stoned by Mason.
Mason was aided by Barrett Jackman and Roman Pollak who also each played 26 minutes or more. The pair was pitted against Iginla, Jokinen and the revolving door of left wingers Calgary has skated with the duo all night missing only one of Iginla’s shifts. Jackman was the second star of the game but credited the team defensive effort, which included captain Eric Brewer for the first time in 14 games.
“We’ve been keeping the lanes clear and when they have gotten pucks in the lanes we are getting our sticks in there,” Jackman told Fox Sports during the first intermission.
Nigel Dawes, who had a brilliant two-on-one chance that culminated in a wrist shot deflected away by Mason, also praised the defensive effort by the Blues.
“We battled pretty hard. Obviously, we would have liked to get more toward the net,” Mason told Yahoo! Sports, “But they did a good job blocking shots and with their sticks, deflecting pucks. Mason played well, too.”
A quick first period with few whistles or scoring opportunities to speak of was followed by end-to-end action early in the second stanza. At 6:55, a hard shot off the boards from Mike Weaver was deflected to the front of the net by David Perron and shot into the open net by Patrik Berglund to open the scoring.
“The boards are real hard here and we knew about that, so he put it off the boards and there was a lot of traffic in front of the net and it bounced right out to me and I had an open net,” Berglund told the AP.
Later, a blast by Paul Kariya seemed destined for the Calgary net until he was robbed by Kiprusoff on a play that sent Calgary in the opposite direction for an Olli Jokinen shot off the rush. He was turned aside for a third time on a sterling chance by Mason.
The Flames scored the equalizer with eight minutes remaining in the third period when Daymond Langkow won an offensive zone faceoff cleanly back to Mark Giordano, whose point shot tipped off Weaver and into the net on Mason’s glove side.
Later a three-on-two rush by the Blues resulted in shots for their two most natural goal-scorers, Brad Boyes and Keith Tkachuk, but Kiprusoff made athletic saves on each side of the net to quell the best opportunity for either team to decide the game in regulation. Kiprusoff was also tested by Oshie during a fast-paced overtime but the game ultimately went to the shootout where Boyes and Oshie scored to seal the Flames’ fate.
The Flames host Vancouver Sunday while the Blues will be in Minnesota Saturday to wrap up their road trip.
“We’ve been playing bad at home and we said to each other, `We have to do something, this is not good enough.”’ Patrik Berglund told the Associated Press. “So, we went on this road trip with a whole new attitude.”
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