Blues emerge from big hole, beat Maple Leafs in shootout

TORONTO -- With a 3-0 lead after the first period, the Toronto Maple appeared to have control of the game. Then came a bad bounce that led to a goal and a careless boarding penalty by repeat offender Ryan Hollweg, and the St. Louis Blues suddenly were back in it.

Andy McDonald and Brad Boyes scored in a shootout to give the Blues a 5-4 comeback win over the Maple Leafs on Monday.

"We came out really strong, put them down on their butts and we talked during the first intermission that we have to come out really hard and the first 5 minutes [of the second period] was important," Leafs center Nik Antropov said. "Unfortunately, we get a bad bounce, a penalty for 5 minutes, and they capitalized on that."

Manny Legace stopped Nik Antropov, allowed a goal to Nikolai Kulemin and then stopped Pavel Kubina in the shootout to win it. Vesa Toskala was beaten by both St. Louis shooters.

Hollweg, back after serving a two-game suspension for collecting three boarding penalties in a 41-game span, is likely to face more discipline for his hit on Blues rookie defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.

"There's a fine line you dance of being aggressive and then completely pulling back, and we've got to work with him to find that fine line," Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said.

Pietrangelo may have somewhat turned into the hit, but Hollweg won't get the benefit of the doubt from officials with his track record. A fourth boarding major is expected to earn Hollweg an automatic three-game suspension from the NHL.

"It shouldn't happen in our game, and it happened," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "If it was Keith Tkachuk or Alex Pietrangelo, I wouldn't feel any differently about it. It's unnecessary, and certainly the league will deal with it."

Boyes banged in a rebound 33 seconds into the second period after Toskala robbed McDonald to make it a 3-1 game.

After Hollweg was whistled for his penalty 1:50 later, Patrik Berglund scored on a rebound past a prone Toskala at 4:47. Keith Tkachuk buried a feed from Paul Kariya at 5:35 to tie the score.

"You have to at least limit the damage, and we didn't," Wilson said. "We allowed them right back into the game at that point."

Niklas Hagman restored a lead for the Leafs at the 14-minute mark of the second period.

The Blues tied it at 4-4 at 4:21 of the third period on Kariya's backhander to set up the dramatic finish in the only meeting of the season between the teams.

In the firt period, Tomas Kaberle got the Leafs on the board at 3:22.

Nikolai Kulemin scored with 5:54 left and Alexei Ponikarovsky made it 3-0 a little more than 2 minutes later.

Noteworthy

• Blues winger Lee Stempniak missed his second straight game after tweaking his left knee during the first period of Friday's 5-2 win over Nashville.
• Leafs forward Jamal Mayers faced the Blues for the first time since his trade to Toronto in June. He spent his first 10 NHL seasons in St. Louis.