Bruins end Blues winning streak at nine, gain in Atlantic

ST. LOUIS --The Boston Bruins ended the St. Louis Blues' nine-game winning streak with a 3-2 overtime victory at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Charlie McAvoy won it at 48 seconds on a shot from the high slot off a pass from Jake DeBrusk.
"Your lane is kind of where they're coming from and vice versa," McAvoy said. "That's all I was thinking of, see if I can hold it for a second, change my angle and get a shot off. It went in. Not a lot of them have been going in lately, but that one went in.
"I'm not worried about their win streak. I'm just happy we won."
DeBrusk had a goal and an assist, Taylor Hall scored, and Jeremy Swayman made 20 saves for the Bruins (47-24-5), who moved one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for third place in the Atlantic Division. The Lightning lost 4-3 to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.
"We checked very well, limited their chances," Boston coach Bruce Cassidy said. "[St. Louis'] power play got us there. We were a little late with our pressure, but all in all, I thought we did a real good job against a good offensive team. That's our game. When we play like that, we're hard to play against, so that's a real positive."

Robert Thomas scored to extend his point streak to 14 games, Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 11 games, and Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists for the Blues (46-20-11), who extended their point streak to 13 games (11-0-2). Ville Husso made 32 saves.
"We got a big point there, which is good and in our in our fight for home ice, but you know, definitely wasn't our best effort tonight," St. Louis captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "... It just wasn't our best game, that's for sure."
St. Louis is tied for second in the Central Division with the Minnesota Wild, who defeated the Montreal Canadiens 2-0 on Tuesday. Minnesota has one game in hand.
"We've got to stay consistent," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "There's home ice on the line, there's a lot to play for."
Buchnevich gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 11:49 of the first period, redirecting a centering pass from Tarasenko in the slot on the power play.
DeBrusk tied it 1-1 at 1:33 of the second period. After Matt Grzelcyk intercepted a clearing pass from Colton Parayko, DeBrusk skated out from behind the net and roofed his own rebound off a wraparound attempt.
Hall put the Bruins in front 2-1 at 9:44 when he redirected Derek Forbort's shot from the left point.
Boston held a 17-9 advantage in shots in the second and carried a lot of the play in St. Louis' zone.
"Sometimes you get a team when they're on a winning streak, they're winning games at the end of it because they're making plays," Cassidy said. "I thought if we put a lot of pressure on them and didn't give them a lot of time and space, we play to our strength because they've been scoring a lot of goals and maybe frustrate them. I saw a little of that in the second period. We were able to get on top of them, and that can maybe put a team on its heels."

Thomas tied it 2-2 with 2.4 seconds remaining in the second, redirecting Tarasenko's backhand attempt from just inside the blue line after the Blues were able to dig the puck out along the left wall.
"Well, I thought we played better in the third," Berube said. "I know we didn't generate a whole lot, but at least we played the right way in the third period in my opinion. There wasn't much going on, it was tight both ways, but least we didn't give them much either. That was important and it was good to see. We responded in the third and then in OT, we just lost the puck behind the net there and they capitalized on an opportunity."
NOTES: Boston was 0-for-2 on the power play and is 0-for-27 in its past eight games. … Thomas has 26 points (seven goals, 19 assists), and Buchnevich has 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) during their respective point streaks. ... Tarasenko extended his point streak to seven games (eight goals, nine assists). ... St. Louis' point streak is tied for the longest in its history (12-0-1 from Jan. 3-Feb. 5, 2015).