Vatrano, Krug lead Bruins over Blues
ST. LOUIS -- Frank Vatrano and Torey Krug each scored and set up a goal lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
The Blues have dropped all seven outings when they had a chance to win consecutive contests since a three-game winning streak ended on Dec. 1.
The Bruins carried a 4-1 lead into the third period before a power-play goal by Patrik Berglund at 10:15 of the period. Brad Marchand was credited with his second goal of the game when the puck deflected off Alex Pietrangelo into an empty net with 1:17 to play.
St. Louis responded with a goal by Kyle Brodziak with 25 seconds to play.
The game was the first in St. Louis for former Blues captain David Backes, who spent 10 years with the team before signing as a free agent with the Bruins last summer. He got into the action late in the second period, fighting with the Blues' Joel Edmundson, and also earning a minor instigator penalty and a 10-minute misconduct.
Backes' new team wasted no time in jumping on the Blues, building a 3-0 lead in the opening period on just 11 shots on goal while limiting St. Louis to only two shots.
A power-play goal by Vatrano started the flurry at 8:19 of the period, marking the sixth consecutive game the Blues gave up the first goal of the game.
A shot by defenseman Brandon Carlo rebounded off the end boards and hit the skate of goalie Jake Allen before going into the net at 15:20 to make it 2-0. Marchand capped the period with his 14th goal of the year at 17:52.
Allen was replaced by Carter Hutton to start the second period, and he allowed a power-play goal by Torey Krug at 1:31 to increase the lead to 4-0.
A power-play goal by defenseman Colton Parayko, his first goal of the season, at 3:57 cut the Boston lead to 4-1.
NOTES: Blues RW Vladimir Tarasenko was selected to play in his third consecutive NHL All-Star Game. The last Blues player to appear in three All-Star Games in a row was D Chris Pronger from 2000-02. ... Named as All-Stars from the Bruins were LW Brad Marchand and G Tuukka Rask. It is the first All-Star selection for both. ... The Blues' two injured defensemen, Robert Bortuzzo (lower body) and Carl Gunnarsson (lower body), are expected to go with the team on its three-game trip that begins Thursday night in Los Angeles. They could play at some point during the trip. ... The Bruins will wrap up their four-game trip on Saturday night in Nashville.