Greiss makes 47 saves, Blues top Capitals for fifth straight win

ST. LOUIS -- Thomas Greiss made 47 saves, and the St. Louis Blues won their fifth straight game by holding off the Washington Capitals, 5-4 in a six-round shootout at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Ryan O'Reilly scored to extend his point streak to four games, Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists, and Greiss stopped five of six shootout attempts for the Blues (8-8-0), who lost eight straight before their current winning streak.
Pavel Buchnevich scored in the sixth round of the shootout before Greiss made a save on Dylan Strome to clinch his first win (1-3-0) for St. Louis after signing a one-year contract July 13.
"Get the monkey off [our] back, it's great to win at home," Greiss said. "It was fun. I don't know what it is [about facing a lot of shots this season], but it's just the way it goes. You've got to make the best of it."

Blues coach Craig Berube called it a goalie win.
"For sure," Berube said. "We were a little bit gassed [from being] on the road and coming back [after a 5-2 victory at the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday]. Got off to a good lead, which was important, but the goalie was excellent."

John Carlson scored twice, Alex Ovechkin scored his 789th NHL goal and had two assists, and Charlie Lindgren made 20 saves for the Capitals (7-9-3), who have lost four of five and are 2-5-3 in their past 10 games.
"Obviously it's a tough start," Ovechkin said. "You go [down] 3-0 after the first, but you can see the boys didn't give up, played hard. I think last two periods like previous game against Florida (a 5-2 loss Tuesday), we didn't start well but then we start pushing and have a chance to bounce back and win the game."

Carlson cut it to 4-3 with a power-play goal at 15:45 of the third period, one-timing a shot from the left face-off circle. Conor Sheary tied it 4-4 at 16:57 from the slot off a pass from
Evgeny Kuznetzov
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Washington nearly took the lead with 2:23 remaining when Nic Dowd batted in a puck, but it was determined to be a high stick after review. Berube said the Blues were ready to challenge for goalie interference in case it was ruled a goal.
Brayden Schenn gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 4:56 of the first with a wrist shot from the right circle on a 2-on-1 that beat Lindgren on the short side. Buchnevich made it 2-0 at 7:10, scoring his first goal since the season opener on Oct. 15, when he was able to win a long stretch pass off the corner boards from Tarasenko and beat Lindgren on a wraparound.
Torey Krug's power-play goal from the point at 11:49 made it 3-0.
The Capitals were chasing early for the second straight game, frustrating coach Peter Laviolette.
"We didn't press enough offensively," Laviolette said. "I don't think we gave up much defensively, but we've got to push more from the start. I don't think we brought enough pucks to the net. We didn't bring enough people to the net and I thought after the first, we got going."

Ovechkin made it 3-1 at 15:12 of the second with his first goal in five games after Strome picked Tarasenko off along the right boards and fed Ovechkin alone in the slot.
Carlson cut it to 3-2 at 17:36 with a short-handed goal in his 900th NHL game, finishing a 2-on-1 after Schenn missed a shot high.
O'Reilly made it 4-2 on a backhand at 18:02 following a high-low pass from Josh Leivo.
The Capitals outshot the Blues 22-3 in the third and 18-9 in the second.
"We just sat back, turned pucks over," Schenn said. "Didn't close out plays defensively and forced us to play a lot of time in our own end.
"That's what happens. You give up 50 shots, you're just probably not [playing] hard enough defensively, and guys that are over there, they have a ton of skill. They're going to make the most of it. And we relied on our goalie way too much."
NOTES: Ovechkin tied Bryan Trottier for 18th all-time in NHL career points (1,425). He has 34 points (19 goals, 15 assists) in 23 games against St. Louis. ... Strome had two assists to give him nine points (one goal, eight assists) in nine games against the Blues. ... Carlson has three goals and two assists in the past four games. ... St. Louis is 5-0-1 in its past six games against Washington. ... Tarasenko has 12 points (eight goals, four assists) in 12 games against the Capitals. ... O'Reilly has six points (three goals, three assists) in his point streak.