NHL Penguins falter in OT on Boguniecki's goal, 3-2
The St. Louis Blues dealt Pittsburgh its 14th straight loss.
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Eric Boguniecki scored with 2:54 left in overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday night, the Penguins' 14th consecutive loss.
Keith Tkachuk and Christian Backman also scored for the Blues, who blew an early two-goal cushion against the NHL's worst team but recovered to end a four-game losing streak at home.
St. Louis, also mired in a deep slump, won for only the second time in 12 games (2-9-1) and scored more than two goals for only the second time in 13 games.
The Penguins had two shots in overtime, including a backhanded attempt in front of the net by Brian Holzinger that was stopped by Chris Osgood, before Boguniecki got his fifth goal.
Latest ploy
Elevated to the first line for the game as the latest ploy by coach Joel Quenneville, Boguniecki stopped a weak point shot from Eric Weinrich with his stick in front of the net, and then slipped the puck around Sebastien Caron.
Ryan Malone had tied it early in the third period for the Penguins with his fourth goal in three games, and Ted Kotsopoulos also scored in the second period.
Power-play goals in the first period by Tkachuk and Christian Backman ended the Blues' 1-for-33 slump with the man advantage.
Malone took advantage of a dump-in pass that got caught in Chris Pronger's skates, swooping in and then around the defenseman for the tying goal at 1:44 of the third. The Penguins have 31 points in 58 games, by far the lowest total in the NHL.
The Blues entered having scored only 17 goals in the previous 13 games. The four-game losing streak at home was their longest slump since they dropped five in a row from Jan. 21-Feb. 13, 1999.
Notes
The Penguins have been outscored 63-30 during their 14-game slump, scoring two or fewer goals in eight of the games.
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