Just over a week ago, the Blues watched one of the NHL's top teams and its best players go on the ice in the third period and grab a victory.
The Detroit Red Wings overcame a one-goal deficit, scored two goals in a 56-second span and topped the Blues 3-2.
On Thursday, the Blues showed similar signs of maturity and accountability, rallying from a two-goal hole in the third period with goals 1:28 apart and edging Edmonton 4-3. Granted, the Oilers had dropped eight of their past 10 games, but clawing back from a 3-1 deficit in one period against any NHL club is respectable.
"It happened to us against Detroit and we showed that we can do that too," said Blues forward Chris Stewart, who scored the club's first goal Thursday. "We were taking bad penalties. Our power play started the game 0 for 4. But we come right out and didn't let it faze us. ... You're going to look back later in the season and remember this game รข€" how important those two points were."
The victory allowed the Blues to match the Red Wings with 51 points, putting them in fifth place in the Western Conference, as they face Colorado at 7 tonight at Scottrade Center.
There were several similarities between Detroit's comeback win over the Blues and the Blues' rally to beat Edmonton. The Red Wings' Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyk stepped up to score key goals against the Blues, while David Backes and Alex Pietrangelo helped the Blues rally vs. the Oilers.
"Backes was excellent in the third period. Pietrangelo was excellent. Stewart stepped up again," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We got a great performance all night from (Patrik) Berglund; ... he was really good. That's why we've got the record we've got right now because our best players have been our best players."
Also similar to the Detroit game, when the Red Wings overcame three second-period penalties, the Blues played much of the second period shorthanded against the Oilers, who scored three goals on 21 shots.
The Blues also were playing on fumes in the third period because of Roman Polak's early exit after a major slashing penalty. They basically played with four defensemen, with Polak leaving after only 6:48 of ice time and rookie Cade Fairchild playing just 6:26.
Meanwhile, Kevin Shattenkirk played 27:52 (including 5:23 shorthanded), Barret Jackman 24:29 (5:54 shorthanded) and Pietrangelo 26:54 (4:32 shorthanded).
"Our best players were our best players in the third period, despite having to kill all the penalties," Hitchcock said. "That usually exhausts people. To come back and play with some energy in the third period was a good sign."
The production of the Blues' power play in the third period also was a positive development, as Pietrangelo and Backes scored man-advantage goals on back-to-back chances.
"We've been struggling on the PP the whole year, and we went in and scored two right away," Berglund said. "It was really big for us and we'll get a lot of confidence for that."
The unit finished two for six against the Oilers, jumping to 24th (13.9 percent) from 29th.
"We've become a very good power play now shooting the puck," Hitchcock said. "Our percentage on the power play has become strong (13.9 percent). When we initiate everything off the shot, when we make plays after we shoot the puck, we're a very good power play.
"But when we go the other way, we're on the outside, we're standing still, there's no chaos and we're not very good. We went back to a play-making (power play) in the first period with no success and then in the third period, we just started hammering pucks again and away we went."
Perhaps the most important sign of the victory was the Blues' demeanor Friday at practice. It might have been because the players were too tired to celebrate, but there wasn't anyone gloating over the comeback.
"I don't know if we ever get too high," Blues forward Jamie Langenbrunner said. "I don't know if 'Hitch' lets us do that. We had a good video session, even showing us the ugliness in the third period. It's a long season and you're going to have games like that. That's a good feeling to have, but we're not pleased with the way it went, even if we got the two points."
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