Photo courtesy AP/Jeff Roberson
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jaden Schwartz and the St. Louis Blues felt the comeback coming and followed through against the Eastern Conference leaders.
Schwartz completed a late rally with a pair of goals, including one in overtime, to lead the Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
Paul Stastny also scored for St. Louis, which has won four of five. The Blues charged back from a 2-0 third-period deficit and have a point in their last 13 home games.
Goalie Jake Allen made 28 saves to improve to 13-3-3.
St. Louis struggled through most of the contest, unable to solve backup goaltender Al Montoya until the third period.
“The first two periods didn’t go our way,” Schwartz said. “But we stayed confident. We didn’t panic. We stuck with it — and got a big comeback win.”
Stastny started the rally with a goal at 7:40 of the third period.
“We needed to break the rhythm of the game,” Stastny said. “I think my goal kind of opened things up for us. From there, we had a lot of energy. We played a whole different game.”
Schwartz tied it 2:51 later to set the stage for his third game-winning goal of the season. He took a pass from Alexander Steen and calmly lifted a backhander past Montoya with 1:22 left in overtime.
“(Steen) made a great pass over a couple of sticks and it landed on my tape,” Schwartz said. “I kind of had a step on the defenseman and I just tried to get it up as quickly as I could.”
The Blues improved to 3-5-1 when trailing after two periods.
“This was a test game to see where we’re at,” Allen said. “This creates momentum, gives us positive energy.”
“They’re a good team, they stuck around,” Montoya said. “When you go into overtime, it’s anyone’s game.”
Plekanec scored for the first time since Nov. 5, a streak covering 14 games.
