No scorer, Edmundson gets huge goal for Blues
St. Louis defenseman Joel Edmundson doesn’t score very often. When he does, the goal is usually an important one.
Edmundson converted with 20 seconds left in regulation and Jake Allen made 23 saves in the Blues’ 4-3 victory over the visiting Anaheim Ducks on Friday night.
“It feels good, a little different — but good,” Edmundson said.
Paul Stastny, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan Reaves also scored to help the Blues win their third straight.
Jakob Silfverberg, Chris Wagner and Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks. They had won two in a row.
Allen improved to 5-0 lifetime against the Ducks.
Edmundson has three goals in 120 NHL games. He snapped a wrist shot past goalie Josh Gibson off a nifty setup from defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, who had just his third assist of the season. “An unlikely pair,” Reaves said.
“Not exactly how we drew it up,” joked St. Louis coach Mike Yeo.
Edmundson scored last season in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinal series against Dallas. The goal gave the Blues a 2-1 lead in the first period after they had dropped the first game of the series.
His winner Friday was also important,
“It was an incredible shot,” Bortuzzo said. “But this is the kind of locker room where all the guys are going to pitch in.”
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle was deflated after the loss. “To lose with under 20 seconds left, it’s very disappointing,” he said. “We played well at times, but didn’t get any real reward.”
Anaheim outshot St. Louis 14-9 in the third period and appeared to grab the momentum after Silfverberg’s goal tied it at 3 on a power play with 10:36 left.
“I thought we played hard the whole game,” Rakell said. “Every game is so close and it means so much. We’ve just got to put this one behind us.”