Allen turns into a wall, Blues blank Bruins 2-0
BOSTON -- Jake Allen stopped 32 shots for his fifth shutout, Vladimir Tarasenko and Robby Fabbri scored third-period goals and the St. Louis Blues cooled off the Boston Bruins with a 2-0 victory Tuesday night.
It was only the second regulation loss in 16 games for Boston (11-2-3). St. Louis posted its fifth win in seven games.
The Bruins had won six of their last eight at home.
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Boston goalie Tuukka Rask made 27 saves, but lost in regulation for the first time in 11 starts after going 8-0-2.
Tarasenko took a pass and came charging down the slot before slipping a wrister past Rask's blocker for his team-leading 22nd goal to make it 1-0 at 7:35 of the third. It extended the winger's point streak to a season-high seven games, with six goals and five assists during that span.
Fabbri snapped off a shot from the left circle that beat Rask inside the far upper corner with just more than 7 minutes to play.
St. Louis had the only power play in a well-played, clean game that featured one third-period fight.
Despite the scoreless opening two periods, both teams had some very good scoring chances -- with the best coming off the game's opening faceoff.
The Blues had the opportunity in the opening half-minute when Troy Brouwer split two defensemen, broke in alone and fired a wrister that Rask blocked with his left arm.
St. Louis wing Alexander Steen fired a shot that caromed directly off the right post midway into the second before Allen made a stellar stop on Brad Marchand's backhander about 4 minutes later.
Marchand collected a rebound at the bottom of the right circle, but Allen came sliding across quickly to make the save.
The Bruins owned a 26-21 edge in shots on goal over the first two periods, which featured a good amount of end-to-end play. But solid defensive positioning by both teams led to few second chances.
NOTES: Allen tied a Blues rookie record with four shutouts last season. . RW Jordan Caron, a former Bruin, was called up from the AHL's Chicago Wolves on Sunday and made his Blues debut Tuesday. . Boston entered averaging 3.19 goals per game, second in the NHL behind Dallas' 3.42. . St. Louis finished its sixth set of back-to-back games. The Blues are 3-3 on the second night. . Steen blocked a slap shot and skated slowly to the bench in the second, but didn't miss any ice time. . Scotty Bowman, senior adviser of hockey operations for the Chicago Blackhawks, was in the press box.
