Columbus 3-2 loser to St. Louis
Curtis Glencross scored his second goal of the season and Rick Nash netted his 13th for the Blue Jackets.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Paul Kariya scored in the first period and set up Brad Boyes’ go-ahead goal with 2:27 to go in the St. Louis Blues’ 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.
Jamal Mayers added an empty-netter in the final minute as the Blues broke through against Blue Jackets goalie Pascal Leclaire, who shut them out twice earlier in the season. St. Louis has won two straight after losing three in a row.
Al MacInnis was honored for his recent Hall of Fame induction in a pre-game ceremony, with the franchise announcing it has commissioned a bronze statue in his likeness that will be placed outside the Scottrade Center alongside one of Bernie Federko.
Curtis Glencross scored his second goal of the season and Rick Nash netted his 13th with 6.3 seconds to go for the Blue Jackets, who won a pair of 3-0 games at home in the first two meetings against the Blues.
The Blues ended a scoreless drought of 144 minutes, 32 seconds against Leclair on Kariya’s rebound goal late in the first period. Manny Legace made 29 saves for St. Louis, which started backup Hannu Toivonen the first two games against Columbus.
Kariya, the Blues’ leading scorer with 18 points, scored his fourth goal on a rebound with 1:17 to go in the first period — also his first point in four games.
Glencross tied it at 5:19 of the third, banging in a rebound before the net was lifted off its moorings by Blues defenseman Erik Johnson, who had been knocked off balance behind the net. The goal was allowed after a lengthy replay.
The Blues killed off 1:36 of a two-man advantage midway through the third, with Legace stopping three shots and defenseman Bryce Salvador stopping another when a deflection struck him in the jaw and left him on the ice for a few minutes.
Salvador recovered in time to make his next shift, however, and also assisted on the go-ahead goal.