The St. Louis Blues got off to a quick start against the Atlanta Thrashers and held on for a 4-2 win on Tuesday night at Phillips Arena.
Brad Boyes got the game’s first goal when Chris Porter intercepted a clearing pass in Atlanta’s zone and found Boyes, whose quick wrist shot past former teammate Chris Mason netted his seventh goal.
Bryan Little of Atlanta evened the score just 1:36 later. Evander Kane led a 3-on-2 down the left wing as Anthony Stewart drove the net. Kane almost seemed to purposely pass the puck off the pads of Ty Conklin and the rebound came out to the trailing Little in the slot, allowing Little to easily score his 10th of the season.
Alex Steen put the Blues ahead to stay at 18:39 of the second period, scoring his 11th of the season on a one-timer from below the right faceoff dot past Mason’s glove. The Blues used their knowledge of Mason’s weak glove work to take advantage of those goals.
With 7:23 left in regulation, and down 3-1, Dustin Byfuglien pulled Atlanta within 3-2 with his League-leading 12th goal by a defenseman, banking the puck off the back of the leg of Conklin from behind the net. The point tied Byfuglien for his career-high of 36 with 46 games remaining.
