Blues end Bruins' winning streak at seven in shootout

ST. LOUIS -- The Boston Bruins had their seven-game winning streak end with a 2-1 shootout loss to the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Chris Wagner scored, and Tuukka Rask made 28 saves for Boston (36-17-9), which extended its point streak to 13 games (9-0-4) and completed a five-game road trip 4-0-1.
The Bruins are in second place in the Atlantic Division, three points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Blues highlights]
"Nine out of 10 points, that's great," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. "Guys had some fun together, bonded a little bit. At the end of the day, I was really happy with the way we played."
Alexander Steen scored, and Jordan Binnington made 31 saves for St. Louis (33-23-5). The Blues have won 12 of their past 13 games and six in a row at home.

St. Louis is six points ahead of the Dallas Stars for third place in the Central Division.
"It's nice to get back in the win column, yeah, and just continue to do what we've been doing, take it one game at a time and keep focusing," said Binnington, who got his 14th win in 17 starts.
Charlie Coyle scored a shootout goal in his Bruins debut. Coyle, a forward, was traded by the Minnesota Wild to Boston on Wednesday for forward Ryan Donato and a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
"I had my linemates kind of help me out and talk to me a lot, which is huge," Coyle said. "I think I adjusted decently. I'll learn as we go along here."
Sammy Blais scored in the sixth round of the shootout, and Tyler Bozak also scored for the Blues.
Blais, recalled from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Thursday, did not expect to be called upon.
"I thought they were going to choose someone else, but it worked out, so I'm pretty happy about that," Blais said. "When [Rask] went down a little bit, I saw the opening and I just shot it, so it worked."
Steen's first goal since Nov. 30 (27 games) gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 7:15 of the first period.
Wagner tied it 1-1 for the Bruins at 5:12 of the second.

"I thought it was a battle," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "It wasn't a pretty game at all. It was a tight hockey game and they force a lot of that on you. They're a good team. They check really well.
"There's no room out there when you play the Boston Bruins and so we knew what kind of game it was going to be, and it's just kind of a battle. But goalies were good, both sides, and we were fortunate enough to get the win. They're a good hockey team and they're really well-coached and they play a hard game. It's a tight game when you play them."

They said it

"I'm not totally happy. We were looking for two points, but this was two teams that were waiting for the other one to break." -- Bruins forward David Backes
"I thought the first period, we came out and played pretty good. The second period, we got a little sloppy. We picked it up decently in the third, but those are huge points for us. We bank them and move on to [Minnesota]." -- Blues forward Alexander Steen

Need to know

Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk's five-game goal streak ended. He had 10 points during the stretch. ... Bruins forward Peter Cehlarik returned after missing two games because of a lower-body injury. ... Blues center Brayden Schenn was placed on injured reserve with an upper-body injury after missing his second straight game. ... The Blues scratched defenseman Robert Bortuzzo because of illness.

What's next

Bruins: Host the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SNE, SNO, SNP, NESN, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Minnesota Wild on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)