Blues respond to end Hurricanes winning streak

ST. LOUIS-- Scottie Upshall scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 at Scottrade Center on Saturday.

Upshall scored off a Brayden Schenn pass from the left circle at 8:58 to help the Blues (24-15-2) win for the second time in seven games.
"It was our typical you get it up the wall to the winger, play it to a centerman heading north with speed, and I just yelled to Schenn] too, and he did an incredible no-look pass that put me in a great shooting spot," Upshall said. "I was able to put one in."
***[WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Blues highlights]*
Kyle Brodziak had a goal and an assist, Patrik Berglund scored, Alex Pietrangelo had two assists, and Carter Hutton made 23 saves for St. Louis.
"It's a big win, it's a good hockey team over there too," Hutton said. "They pressed, we bent but didn't break. We made it interesting there, obviously taking a penalty. We fought them off and held on for a big win."

Lucas Wallmark
scored his first NHL goal, Derek Ryan scored, and Scott Darling made 26 saves for the Hurricanes (18-13-7), whose season-high four-game winning streak ended. Carolina is 7-2-0 in the past nine games.
"I think we're on a bit of a roll," Ryan said. "We're playing good hockey and we've beat some good teams lately, so we've got to continue to do what's made us successful in these past nine games. We just can't get away from our game like we did in the first period. We have to put together a full 60 minutes and make sure we do that on a consistent effort. It's hard to do."
The Blues used 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with forwards Upshall and Brodziak, normally mainstays on the fourth line, moved into more prominent roles to help contribute offensively.
"For one, [defenseman Jay Bouwmeester] hasn't been in for a while and just to give a chance to protect him there," St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said. "The guys have been playing well, and it freed up some opportunity to get some extra ice time to some guys up front, so there were a couple things that went into it."

Upshall played on the top line with Schenn and Vladimir Tarasenko in the third period, and Brodziak started the game centering the third line with Berglund and Alexander Steen.
"It was definitely a great opportunity for everyone to kind of step up and take on more responsibility and play in more situations," Upshall said. "Tonight was a big character win that was very uplifting for our group. I feel we deserved better than what we've been getting. Tonight we got rewarded."
Brodziak gave the Blues a 1-0 lead 43 seconds into the first period off a one-timer from the slot following a pass from behind the net by Steen. St. Louis went up 2-0 on Berglund's goal 42 seconds into the second period on a give-and-go with Pietrangelo.
Ryan scored at 8:00 after coming out of the penalty box to make it 2-1, and Wallmark scored from the slot off a Noah Hanifin backhand pass at 13:58 to tie it 2-2.
"It's a big goal for me and for the team there, so it's fun to see the puck get into the net there," Wallmark said after playing his ninth NHL game, first this season.

Goal of the game

Berglund's goal 42 seconds into the second period.

Save of the game

Hutton's save on Ryan at 18:54 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Upshall's goal at 8:58 of the third period.

They said it

"I thought we got more competitive as the game went along. I didn't think we were as competitive as we needed to be early. We need a day off by the looks of it. We didn't look very energetic here today." -- Hurricanes coach Bill Peters
"I think for the most part we were generating a lot of shots and rebounds, that sort of thing, which I think is a focus when you're not scoring a lot of goals, just to get pucks at that net. The goals we did score, some guys made some pretty good plays." -- Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester

Need to know

The Blues swept the two-game season series. St. Louis won 2-1 at Carolina on Oct. 27. ... Hurricanes defensemen Justin Faulk and Klas Dahlbeck were each minus-3. ... Bouwmeester played 17:34 and was plus-3 after missing nine games with a lower-body injury.

What's next

Hurricanes: Host the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)