Blues' rookie scores twice in win
Rookie forward David Perron is giving the Blues every reason to keep him in the NHL.
Perron scored twice in St. Louis' 4-goal second period, and the Blues rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 Tuesday night in St. Louis.
St. Louis will have a decision to make once Perron plays another game, whether to keep him with the big club for the rest of the season or return him to Lewiston of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. If he keeps playing this well, the choice could be easy.
"You always have to prove something," Perron said. "Even if I stay the whole year, I still have to prove that the team made a good decision. I'm trying to play those kinds of games like I did tonight every night."
The Blues, who snapped a three-game losing streak, fell behind but stormed back in the middle frame against goalie Dominik Hasek. Keith Tkachuk and Jamal Mayers joined Perron in the scoring spurt, and the final 3 goals came in a span of 4 shots.
"You need a little bit of luck and we needed contributions from other guys," Mayers said. "We got that."
Pavel Datsyuk, Dan Cleary and Valtteri Filppula scored for Detroit, who lost the lead in the second period despite holding a 17-7 shots advantage in the frame. The Red Wings dropped their second straight following a nine-game winning streak.
Thrashers 3, Panthers 2 (OT): Ilya Kovalchuk scored in the first minute of overtime, 27 seconds after Marian Hossa forced the extra period with a power-play goal in Atlanta's victory over visiting Florida. Kovalchuk's NHL-leading 15th goal gave the Thrashers their fourth win in five games.
Canadiens 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT): Montreal defenseman Mike Komisarek scored 35 seconds into overtime to lift Montreal over host Toronto. Komisarek intercepted Bryan McCabe's errant pass at the Montreal blue line and skated in on a breakaway, beating Andrew Raycroft with a forehand deke between the pads.