Well, when they play out like this, it’s never something one draws up.
But for the second straight game to begin the season, the St. Louis Blues found themselves down by multiple goals, only to persevere at the end.
This time, spoiling Macklin Celebrini’s NHL debut with the San Jose Sharks with a 5-4 overtime win on Thursday at SAP Center.
The Blues (2-0-0), who trailed 2-0 in the second period Tuesday against the Seattle Kraken before scoring three unanswered in a 3-2 win, found themselves down 4-1 heading into the third period before staging another one of those comeback wins, getting a tying goal from Justin Faulk in the last minute with a sixth-attacker goal and Brayden Schenn winning it in the first minute of overtime.
Let’s take a look at the observations from another comeback win.
* FIRST PERIOD — Let’s face it, all this comeback stuff could have been avoided in the opening 20 minutes when the Blues came out like gangbusters, peppering Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood with 22 shots and a number of them high quality scoring chances.
But the Blues apparently prefer the flare for the dramatics.
They somehow came out of the period down 2-1. We won’t get into every detail of who could have scored and when they could have scored, but just know a 2-1 deficit was an incredible injustice.
The opening goal that Celebrini scored to make it 1-0 San Jose was lucky to say the least, but hey, the kid is 18 and you only score your first NHL goal once, but his spin-o-rama off the right circle around Blues defenseman Ryan Suter into the slot caromed off the right skate of Matthew Kessel and past a surprised Joel Hofer.
You know what they say, (insert your own adjective) happens.
But Pavel Buchnevich would quickly restore order for the Blues when his chance off a 2-on-1 with Jordan Kyrou deflected off Sharks defenseman Jan Rutta and through Blackwood at 8:51, or 1:50 after the Celebrini goal, to tie the game 1-1 and at that point, you’re thinking the Blues will take the game over with the amount of scoring opportunities they already had.
The Sharks would get a late goal at 17:14 from Tyler Toffoli, off a slick behind-the-net feed from Celebrini, to forge ahead 2-1.
It just looked like Blues defenseman Nick Leddy got caught puck-watching on the play, unaware Toffoli was the danger man in the low slot and got burned after the initial shot from the right point deflected to Celebrini, who had two points in his first 20 minutes in the NHL.
* SECOND PERIOD — The Blues had to be feeling if they can play for the most part like they did in the first period, they could still take the game over.
But the second period was listless to say the least.
They didn’t get their first shot on goal until roughly seven minutes in after 22 in the first; Nathan Walker was called for a slash at 7:53, a penalty he had to take to prevent a high-danger scoring chance, but San Jose made the Blues pay with a Fabian Zetterlund goal at 8:26 to make it 3-1.
On this play, Leddy got caught out of position again, lagging off the backside post and leaving Zetterlund alone to take Mikael Granlund’s pinpoint pass.
Then Kasperi Kapanen took an ill-advised slash at 10:49, but the Blues were able to kill that one off and give themselves a chance to get right back in the game when Cody Ceci was whistled for holding at 16:55.
Instead, the period got worse for the Blues, who were outshot 17-7 when Robert Thomas got his pocket picked at the blue line on a zone entry. Barclay Goodrow was off to the races the other way, and after Hofer made the initial save, Goodrow was somehow able to from behind the net bank the shorthanded effort off Hofer and in at 17:37 to make it 4-1 and all but close the coffin on this one.
The Blues’ top players were not getting the job done, and it all but appeared like another dismal loss to the Sharks.
* THIRD PERIOD — I thought the Blues went back to work in the third period and grinded the Sharks down, led by the Walker, Radek Faksa, Alexey Toropchenko line (the ‘WTF’ Line) that helped produce the first two goals, by Faksa and Suter, in the first 6:11 to turn a 4-1 deficit into a 4-3 game.
There just seemed to be so much more life in the skaters, and the fourth line provided the necessary spark once again with hard work and determination.
With nearly 14 minutes left to produce a potential tying goal, or even a winning goal, the Sharks were sitting back and the Blues, who outshot them 10-3 in the third, were hunting for more.
They had a few close encounters with Blackwood, but no tying goal … until Faulk struck with 47 seconds remaining and Hofer on the bench for a sixth attacker.
The Blues were able to maintain possession with the last layer coming from Thomas, who left the puck for Faulk, and with Jake Neighbours at his customary net front, Faulk threw a shot from the edge of the left circle along the wall past Neighbours’ screen and through Blackwood.
Elation for the visiting side, dejection from the home side, which frittered away a three-goal lead.
* OVERTIME — There was almost a sense the Blues would win this game, and once they won the opening face-off, the Sharks were never in possession of it, and Schenn made no mistake once he darted through the neutral zone — past Celebrini — and wiring a wrister off the post and in at 45 seconds to win it.
It was probably a game in which the Blues deserved a better fate in the first 20 minutes and just had to fight until the very end.
It’s not a habit they want to make on a regular basis, but showing this kind of resiliency could go a long way in the end.
Related: St. Louis Blues Player(s) Of The Game vs. San Jose Sharks: ‘WTF’ Line
Related: GAME RECAP: St. Louis Blues 5, San Jose Sharks 4, OT
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