The St. Louis Blues went into Toronto tonight after coming off a big 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, and were looking to regain the top spot in the NHL with a win. Needless to say, they did just that, putting 49 shots on net and beating the Maple Leafs by a score of 5-3.
The Blues were led by by the top line of T.J. Oshie, David Backes, and Alexander Steen. All three forwards finished with three points each, and Backes finished the night with a hat-trick.
The Blues were skating circles around the Leafs in the first period, out-shooting them 23-7, yet it was the Leafs who scored first. Joffrey Lupul scored on the powerplay 11:30 into the first. Jake Gardiner put a shot towards the goal that stopped by Ryan Miller. Nazem Kadri jumped on a rebound and looked to have an open net, but Miller made a spectacular diving save to stop him. Lupul scooped up the rebound and put it past a sprawling Roman Polak to give the Leafs their only lead of the night.
It was Oshie who scored for the Blues, less than five minutes later. Roman Polak put a shot on goal that was deflected between the legs of Jonathan Bernier by Oshie, but the puck slowed before it crossed the line. Oshie had to dive into the crease to knock it in the net.
David Backes gave the Blues a 2-1 lead on the power play late in the first period. Backes stripped Dion Phanuef of the puck on the offensive blue-line, gave it to Oshie, who gave it back to Backes who skated in past the Leafs defenders and put a shot off the pad of Bernier and the puck just slid into the net. It was quite the soft goal by Bernier, who didn't budge on the shot.
The second period was also dominated by the Blues, out-shooting them 13-7. Backes scored again in the second period, off a beautiful pass from Alex Pietrangelo and rifled a shot between the legs of Bernier.
Steen scored against his former club after knocking down a bigger Phanuef in front of the net. Steen picked up a blocked shot by Kevin Shattenkirk and roofed a back-hander past Bernier and the Blues had a 4-1 after two periods.
The Leafs would battle back in the third period, getting goals by Carl Gunnarsson and James van Riemsdyk to make the game interesting. They were really pushing back and had it within one with more four minutes remaining.
The Blues would stop the Leafs with an empty net goal by David Backes and earn a 5-3 win, wrapping up a four game road trip with a 2-2 record.
The Blues took back sole possession of first in the NHL with tonight's win, leap-frogging the Boston Bruins who had taken the top spot from the Blues.
The Blues return home for a five game home stand and will look to add to league leading 105 points on the season. They will take on Minnesota on Thursday at 7:00 p.m.