Blues hang in for SO win over depleted B's

Monday matinees have been a lot of fun this season and yesterday was no exception.

It didn't look particularly good for Boston during the first forty minutes and Bruins fans I'm sure would rather forget minutes fifty-eight and fifty-nine, but the finish was spectacular.

Missing six key components; Milan Lucic (shoulder), Aaron Ward (bruised left leg), Patrice Bergeron (concussion), Andrew Ference (fractured right tibia), Phil Kessel (mononucleosis) and Marco Sturm (reconstructive left acl/meniscus surgery) the Bruins are certainly playing short-handed but they uncharacteristically skated the first two periods like they were feeling sorry for themselves.

St. Louis picked up on that and carried the action through forty minutes. So much so that Bruins' analyst, former coach and player Mike Milbury chastised the team during both first and second intermissions on the NESN broadcast.

Blues' forward Brad Winchester found his scoring touch Monday, just in time as far as the Chicago Blackhawks are concerned. Winchester missed a glorious scoring opportunity in Saturday's game versus Chicago when he couldn't settle a puck an inch off the ice to pot a goal with Cristobal Huet fallen at one side of the crease.

Missed chances were the story on Saturday for the Blues but Monday would tell a different tale.

Keith Tkachuk returned to the Blues' line up for the first time since getting his bell rung in Calgary last Tuesday night. He assisted on David Backes' controversial game-tying goal as regulation time expired.

Backes swatted an airborn puck into the net past Bruins' netminder Tim Thomas to the dismay of a Martin Luther King Day matinee crowd at TD Banknorth Garden anticipating a victory celebration. Two different replay angles would've led you to believe Backes's stick was above the crossbar when making contact with the puck, but the NHL's 'war room' in Toronto decided the goal would stand, sending the game into overtime.



That move by Boyes in the shootout was sick. Blake Wheeler beat Chris Mason but also hit the post. P.J. Axelsson missed on the backhand.

Manny Legace started, but left the game after ten minutes with what the team is calling a 'lower body injury.' The Blues are saying it's minor but they will likely have to recall Ben Bishop for Wednesday's game in Chicago. After the game Blues' coach Andy Murray told the media Legace simply said he couldn't continue. Murray added, "It's happened a lot."

Boston coach Claude Julien seperated what had been his team's best line for over a month. David Krejci, Michael Ryder and rookie-ace Blake Wheeler had seen opposing team's top checkers each night in absence of Kessel from Marc Savard's line. Julien felt Savard's line needed a spark so he moved Wheeler up to his line with Chuck Kobasew on the left while Krejci kept Ryder and P.J. Axelsson moved up to replace Wheeler.

It was Krejci's line on the ice for all three Bruins' third period tallies, though Savard replaced Axelsson for the power-play goal at 15:16 of the period.

I can't help but feel bad for Chris Mason. Once the main guy in Nashville, two rough seasons have Mason facing NHL obscurity this summer. He's still looking for Zdeno's sixty-footer. And how about that Tim Thomas save? In the highlights the sequence begins at 1:44. Thomas on his belly and back to the play turns his head and gets a piece of a Brad Winchester scoring attempt with his left glove.

Lucic, Ference and Ward should return just after the All-Star game and Bergeron won't be out too much longer as his latest concussion wasn't as bad as originally feared. Kessel is out for a month and Sturm is done for the year. Dennis Wideman did play yesterday, with limited effects after taking a knee-on-knee hit from Alex Ovechkin Saturday in Washington.

Wideman and team captain Zdeno Chara have been the driving force behind the Bruins' Eastern Conference dominance so far this year as much as scorers like Kessel, Ryder and Savard. Aaron Ward and rookie Matt Hunwick don't get much credit outside of Beantown, but they've also had a lot to due with this team's success.

The B's own the league's worst record when trailing after two periods; now 0-6-2.

St. Louis's B's have taken five out of a possible six points in the past five days against Colorado, Chicago and Boston.

Boston's lone game before the All-Star break takes place at Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Wednesday night.