Blues win Winter Classic rematch over Blackhawks in 10-round shootout 

The St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks donned their Winter Classic uniforms in their rematch on Saturday, Feb. 8, in St. Louis.

The Blues previously crushed the Blackhawks 6-2 in the Winter Classic on New Year’s Eve at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Round 2 turned out to be a much closer contest.

It may not be the Winter Classic, but Saturday’s game was certainly a classic in the winter, as the Blues won 6-5 after a 10-round shootout.

Radek Faksa, who is in his first year with the Blues after a nine-year career with the Dallas Stars, waited for his name to be called and baffled the opposing goalie to score the deciding goal.

“Right before he went, we heard about a sick forehand, backhand move,” Blues center Rob Thomas said.

“I was hoping they were going to call his number,” said Blues center Brayden Schenn, who scored the other goal in the shootout. “Nice patience for the big man and he’s able to seal us the win.”

When asked about his decision to send Faksa out there for the 10th round, Blues head coach Jim Montgomery said, “process of elimination.”

“Start to run out of guys,” he said. “[Blues goaltending coach David Alexander] said he had a good forehand, backhand move, and that’s what he did.”

While shootouts are a delight for the fans, it's a much more stressful way for the players to get two points in the standings.

“It sucks for us but I think it’s exciting for the fans,” Thomas said. “We needed a win tonight before the break, and we got it. [Blues goalie Jordan Binnington] played great in the shootout and held it in there for us until [Faksa’s] sick moves.”

Blues defenseman Ryan Suter played in his 1,500th game in his 20th season, making him the first Blue, the 22nd skater, and the seventh defenseman in NHL history to reach this milestone. At the age of 40, Suter is the oldest active player in the league and has played all 56 games for the Blues, amassing 10 points on one goal and nine assists.

Before the game, players saw his achievement commemorated in new locker room tags, showing his 1,500 broken down between his stints at Nashville, Minnesota, Dallas and St. Louis.

“Those are really cool,” Thomas said. “I got to get him to sign it for me. Those are really well done.”

The Blackhawks jumped out ahead of the Blues with two first period goals from Craig Smith and Ryan Donato within 38 seconds. It was the 19th goal of the season for the 28-year-old Boston native, who has eight points in four games.

The Blues struck back with lightning speed in the second period. Phillip Broberg and Nathan Walker scored a goal within 10 seconds of each other to tie the game at 2-2 two minutes into the second period.

The Blues took a 3-2 lead later in the second period on a snap shot goal from Mathieu Joseph, who assisted in Broberg’s goal earlier in the period.

The Blackhawks took a 5-4 lead in the third period on goals from Alec Martinez, Teuvo Teravainen, and Ilya Mikheyev. All seemed lost for the Blues until Robert Thomas tied it at 5-all with less than five minutes in regulation.

“He showed some emotion after that goal with the celebration,” Schenn said, “which is good to see, a big goal for us. He’s a player who has the puck on his stick a lot so it's nice to see him get rewarded.”

The win was just the second for St. Louis in its last eight games. The Blues enter the 4 Nations Face-Off break 25-26-5 and eight points behind Vancouver for the final playoff spot.

“We know we need a big push, especially coming out of the break,” Thomas said. “I think tonight was good for momentum, kind of reinforcement of good things we can do, and that’s what we got to think about over the break and come back ready to go.”

The Blues will host Winnipeg on Feb. 22.