Blues beat Blackhawks, Devils defeat Bruins
The Blues and Blackhawks took to the outdoors Monday, with Vladimir Tarasenko scoring twice in the third period and Jake Allen stopping 22 shots to lead St. Louis to a 4-1 victory over Chicago in the Winter Classic at Busch Stadium. The Blues went ahead 2-1 when Tarasenko made a backhand pass that hit the skate of Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and slipped by Corey Crawford at 12:05 of the third. Tarasenko then scored on a wrist shot over Crawford’s shoulder at 13:58, giving him 18 goals this season. Michal Kempny scored for Chicago, and Crawford had 31 saves. It was 46 degrees Fahrenheit (7.7 degrees Celsius) when play began before a sellout crowd of 46,556, the sixth largest for a Winter Classic. It was the 21st regular-season outdoor NHL game.
DEVILS 3, BRUINS 0
PA Parenteau scored his fifth goal in eight games and Cory Schneider made 22 saves, leading slumping New Jersey to the victory. Sergey Kalinin added an insurance goal early in the third period and set up Taylor Hall’s empty-netter as the Devils won for only the third time in 13 games (3-9-1). Tuukka Rask had 23 saves for the Bruins, who lost to New Jersey for only the second time in eight games (6-2).
CANUCKS 3, AVALANCHE 2
Sven Baertschi scored twice, including the tiebreaking goal on a power play with less than four minutes to go, and Ryan Miller made 24 saves for his 350th career victory to lead Vancouver. Bo Horvat also scored to help the Canucks win four straight for the first time since opening the season 4-0-0. Henrik Sedin added two assists, while Daniel Sedin picked up an assist on the winning goal for the 600th of his career. The Canucks improved to 6-2-1 over their last nine. The 36-year-old Miller joined John Vanbiesbrouck (374) and Tom Barrasso (369) as the only US-born goalies to reach 350 wins. Mikko Rantanen and Tyson Barrie scored, and Calvin Pickard stopped 21 shots as the Avalanche lost their fourth straight ninth in their last 10. — AP