On a day when the St. Louis Blues were seemingly made much worse than they were just the day before, the team came away with an impressive win over a formidable opponent. On Sunday the Blues traded away their top goal-scorer, Mike Sillinger to the Nashville Predators. Then on Monday, center Doug Weight, who led the team in scoring, was sent to Carolina. Weight had 44 points (11 goals, 33 assists) and Sillinger had 41 (22 goals, 19 assists).

For Weight, the Blues got forwards Jesse Boulerice, Magnus Kahnberg and Mike Zigomanis along with a first round draft choice in 2006, a fourth round draft choice in 2006 (originally from Toronto – which could turn into a third round) and another fourth round draft choice in 2007 (originally from Chicago) from Carolina. Zigomanis has played in 21 NHL games this season and Boulerice has played in 26. Boulerice currently plays in a Sweedish league and is unsigned.

The Blues also sent forward Erkki Rajamaki to the Hurricanes. Weight will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. He waived no-trade clause to go to the Hurricanes, which have the best record in the NHL.

The moves were unexpected and, perhaps, lit a spark under the players Weight and Sillinger left behind. The Blues responded with a 3-2 overtime shootout win over the Calgary Flames.

After a scoreless first period, the Flames quickly took a 2-0 lead in the second. Daymond Langkow got Calgary on the board with a goal at the 1:20 mark of the period. Three minutes and 20 seconds later, Marcus Nilson made it 2-0 with a power-play goal.

But on a day when talented veterans were shipped away, it was time for two rookies to prove their worth. Jay McClement scored his third goal of the season at the 7:43 mark to cut the Flames lead to 2-1. Then at the 16:47 mark, fellow rookie Lee Stempniak found the back of the net to tie it up.

The two teams failed to score in the third period and overtime, so a shootout was necessary to decide the game. McClement scored in the first shootout to give the Blues a 1-0 lead in the tie-breaker. With it tied 1-1 in the fourth shootout, Matthew Lombardi of the Flames and Dennis Wideman of the Blues both scored to make it 2-2. In the fifth round, Stempniak scored after Chuck Kobasew’s miss to give the Blues the victory.

In regulation and overtime Sanford made 29 saves on 31 shots on goal.