NHL Game Summary - St. Louis at Ottawa
Ottawa, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Brian Elliott made 24 saves and Alex Steen netted the deciding goal in the latter stages of the second period as St. Louis nipped Ottawa, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon.
Max Lapierre and Vladimir Tarasenko also provided goals, while Alex Pietrangelo recorded a pair of assists for the Blues, who snapped a two-game skid.
"We all needed it for sure," said Elliott. "I just wanted to get out there and try to get a feel for the puck right away."
Mika Zibanejad and Erik Karlsson tallied for the Senators, with Robin Lehner making 30 stops as the hosts lost for the fifth time in seven contests.
Steen provided a two-goal margin at 12:45 of the second when he cruised through the high slot and deflected a left-point drive from Jay Bouwmeester.
Karlsson pulled the Sens within 3-2 less than three minutes later, as his low wrister from a stride inside the blue line managed to stay untouched through traffic and elude Elliott.
The Blues tried to increase their lead with 15 third-period shots but Lehner did not budge. Ottawa only recorded five shots on Elliott, and Lehner was not pulled for an extra attacker late in regulation.
Lapierre's first goal of the season opened the scoring at 4:16 of the first period, then Zibanejad's power-play marker with 3:37 left evened the score.
Tarasenko sent the visitors to intermission with the lead thanks to his marker just 30 seconds after Ottawa drew even. The dynamic Russian slipped into a seam between the circles and one-timed a Jori Lehtera pass home from the left side.
"They got one early and we score and they come right back," said Karlsson. "We just have to be smarter on shifts after goals."