Tarasenko, Blues top Sabres in overtime

ST. LOUIS -- Vladimir Tarasenko scored with 35.2 seconds remaining in overtime, and the St, Louis Blues won their fourth straight game with a 3-2 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Scottrade Center on Sunday.
Tarasenko got the puck inside the Blues end, skated up into the Sabres zone past Jack Eichel and while he was trying to pull the puck to his forehand, Robin Lehner's poke-check inadvertently pushed the puck inside the near side of the net for the game-winning goal.

"Just tried to drive the net and I think when you have so many chances (and the) puck doesn't go in, you just need to play more simple," Tarasenko said of his 14th goal of the season. "It's kind of (a) lucky bounce, but I think overall, our line playing better every game. I think we have more and more chances all the time, so I think we just need to score goals in the game and don't make it all the way to overtime."
WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Blues highlights]
Evan Rodrigues scored two goals in the third period for the Sabres (7-17-6), including the tying goal with 1:27 remaining. Lehner made 42 saves.
Rodrigues made it 2-1 at 1:42 of the third after Evander Kane's pass through the crease deflected off Sam Reinhart.

Rodrigues tied it after the Sabres pulled Lehner. Marco Scandella's shot hit Ryan O'Reilly and went to directly to Rodrigues in the left circle.
"I thought our third period was really strong," Sabres coach Phil Housley said. "We've just got to start the game that way."
The Blues (21-8-2), who are first in the Western Conference with 44 points, played without Jaden Schwartz and Alex Pietrangelo, who were injured in a 6-1 win at the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Schwartz injured his right ankle and will be re-evaluated in six weeks; Pietrangelo is day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
"On the outside looking in, you look and see that we gave up two in the third period and had to win it in overtime, but we had a number of quality chances we could have put that game away," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "It's not like we sat back. In the third period, we had a number of great chances. Their goalie played real well."
Brayden Schenn and Paul Stastny scored for the Blues, who are 10-1-1 against the Sabres at home in the past 11 games, including six in a row. Jake Allen made 22 saves.

Schenn gave the Blues a 1-0 lead 40 seconds into the first period. He went to the net after Joel Edmundson's shot from the left circle caromed off Scandella in the slot. Schenn leads St. Louis with 16 goals.
Stastny's seventh goal of the season at 16:17 of the second period made it 2-0.

Goal of the game

Tarasenko's goal with 35.2 seconds remaining in overtime.

Save of the game

Lehner's save against Vladimir Sobotka with 2:16 remaining in overtime.

Highlight of the game

Schenn's goal at 40 seconds of the first period.

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They said it

"Obviously, it's nice to score. It's the game of hockey and it was nice to get that second one and take it into overtime and it gave us the chance to get that extra point." -- Sabres forward Evan Rodrigues
"Those are two massive parts of our lineup, but we had this next-man-up mentality for it almost seems like a couple years now. Guys did a great job stepping in." -- Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo on injured teammates Jaden Schwartz and Alex Pietrangelo

Need to know

Tarasenko's eighth NHL career overtime goal ties him with Sean Monahan of the Calgary Flames for the most since the 2014-15 season. ... Sabres forward Ryan O'Reilly played in his 600th NHL game.

What's next

Sabres: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, RDS, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)