ST. LOUIS _ Did you enjoy the third period? Zach Sanford did. His two third-period goals helped the Blues overcome deficits of 3-1 and 5-4 to pull out a thrilling 6-5 win over the rival Chicago Blackhawks.
It was the fifth win in a row for the Blues, who held their first-place position in the Central Division and improved to 37-17-10.
The Blues scored twice in 16 seconds to take a 4-3 lead early in the third period. Then Chicago scored twice to regain the lead. And then the Blues' Justin Faulk scored to tie it at 5. And we were only midway through the third Tuesday at Enterprise Center.
After a takeaway by Jaden Schwartz in the neutral zone, Brayden Schenn fed Ryan O'Reilly, who was charging the net down the slot. O'Reilly's 12th goal of the season tied it at 3 at the 3:47 mark of the third.
Sanford then got his 14th goal at the 4:03 mark after Thomas prevented the Blackhawks from clearing the puck.
So it was 4-3 Blues, but for not that long. Goals by Matthew Highmore and Brandon Saad _ just three minutes apart _ made it 5-4 Chicago.
No worries. Justin Faulk and Sanford (again) tallied to give St. Louis a 6-5 lead.
Chicago and the Blues traded goals in the second period, giving the Blackhawks a 3-2 lead after two periods.
The Blackhawks entered the game dead last in NHL power play efficiency at just 14.2 percent. But Patrick Kane's shot through traffic, his 28th of the season, found the net and made the Blackhawks 2 for 2 on the power play Tuesday.
More importantly it gave Chicago a 3-1 lead just 1:13 into the second. The Blues narrowed their deficit to 3-2 when Robert Thomas scored his 10th goal of the season, set up all alone in the near slot on a pass from the right point by David Perron.
Thomas' goal, at the 7:38 mark of the second, gave the Blues 10 players with 10 or more goals this season.
The Blues had great momentum in the game's early going, including a power-play goal by Schenn just 33 seconds into the game. But Chicago countered with goals by Duncan Keith and Connor Murphy to take a 2-1 lead after one period.
Oskar Sundqvist drew a tripping penalty just 11 seconds into the game (called on Murphy), and Schenn scored just 22 seconds into the power play whipping the puck past Chicago goalie Corey Crawford.
It was Schenn's 10th power play goal of the season, and his 22nd overall. The Blues have scored three times in the first minute of play this season, and Schenn's goal was the second-quickest of the season, exceeded only by Zach Sanford's goal 25 seconds into the Blues Feb. 13 game at Vegas _ a game in which Sanford scored four times.
Keith scored just four seconds into a Chicago power play, ending the Blues' penalty-kill streak at 16-for-16. That came at the 10:55 mark of the period.
Just over three minutes later, Chicago took a 2-1 lead on Murphy's fifth goal of the season. Although the shots were taken from different areas of the ice, the Chicago goals had two things in common:
_ There was traffic in front of goalie Jordan Binnington.
_ No Blues defender was in the same zip code as the shooter.
