The St. Louis Blues became only the 15th team in the history of the NHL to overcome a 3-1 series deficit by defeating the Phoenix Coyotes 1-0 Tuesday night at Midwest Arena. The game was scoreless until 17:59 of overtime when Pierre Turgeon deflected a Ricard Persson wrist shot behind Nikolai Khabibulin to send the Blue Note into the second round to meet the Dallas Stars.

The Coyotes, playing in front of the usual raucous sea of white at Midwest Arena, had their hopes bolstered by the surprising return of Jeremy Roenick. J.R. Superstar had been out of action since Derian Hatcher blasted him with The People's Elbow on April 14. The hit shattered Roenick's jaw and he was expected to miss at least two more weeks. But Roenick wasn't about to sit out a Game Seven.

Jeremy Roenick by Meredith Martini

Sporting a wacky helmet to offer special protection to his mangled mandible, which now features two titanium plates, Roenick took a regular shift and played in all situations. His mere presence inspired his teammates and fans alike. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to solve Grant Fuhr. The veteran netminder finished the evening with 35 saves, exactly one more than his rival, Khabibulin.

The Blues simply outlasted the Desert Dogs. As the night progressed, Coyotes began dropping left and right. Defenseman Gerald Diduck, who had been assigned to abuse Turgeon on every shift, got rubbed out by a rather questionable Geoff Courtnall hip check at 6:21 of the third period. There was no penalty called on the play.

The injuries continued to mount in overtime. Greg Adams, who was already playing with an ailing groin, suffered a frightful incident at about 5:30 of the extra session when St. Louis winger Jamal Mayer's skate accidentally came up and struck him around the right eye. There was no word on Adams' condition as of this writing. He skated off the ice under his own power, holding a towel over the right side of his face. Hope for the best.

Then, with about 5:14 left in the OT, Keith Carney appeared to suffer either a hip injury or some serious leg cramps when he went to the ice to block a St. Louis centering attempt. He was assisted off the ice and didn't return.

Phoenix coach Jim Schoenfeld, who guaranteed a victory, had only been using five defensemen all night. The loses of Carney and Diduck put a rather burdensome strain on that notion. Stanislav Neckar, having played a grand total of 14 seconds during regulation, was forced into action in the final few moments of the overtime. However, Neckar had only one shift, and acquitted himself quite well by denying Pavol Demitra a chance in front, before Turgeon put an end to the festivities.

It was really just a matter of time. The Blues dominated the fourth period, narrowly missing the winner on several occasions. The Coyotes appeared every bit the beaten prize fighter trying to hang on until the bell, or in this case the impending intermission.

The game-winner came about because of some excellent work below the goal line by Scott Young and Michal Handzus. Young eventually managed to sling a diagonal pass out from the right wing side of the Phoenix cage to Persson sneaking in at the top of the left faceoff circle. After stumbling briefly, Persson hurried a wrist shot towards the net. Turgeon, standing near the bottom of the left circle, flagged the puck out of midair, knocking it down under Khabby's still rising blocker. It was Sneaky Pete's second goal of the series.

Impressive Performances

ST. LOUIS

Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis: As per usual, these guys were amazing. They each logged their standard ton of ice time. At least one of them was on the ice at all times from the start of the third period through the end of overtime.

Jamal Mayers: This kid showed lots of spunk. He created at least four quality scoring chances and finished every check in sight. He's not much in the way of finesse, but Mayers makes up for it with hustle.

Lubos Bartecko by Meredith Martini

Lubos Bartecko: This guy's got some skills. The speedy Slovak was a threat from the very start, coming damn close on two separate occasions to bagging the overtime winner.

Grant Fuhr: The Coyotes didn't muster a whole lot of offense during the later stages of the game, but Fuhr was amazing in the second period when the Dogs were on the prowl. His best save of the night came in that middle frame when, during an extended delayed penalty call, he did the splits to rob Rick Tocchet from the slot with a remarkable right pad save.

PHOENIX

Jeremy Roenick: You gotta give Roenick credit for showing up. That takes some guts. And he did more than fill a sweater. J.R. actually played a pretty spirited game for not having eaten solid foods in three weeks. But then again, I don't think I've eaten food in like three years. Food is vastly overrated. It's a fad, really. It'll pass.

Teppo Numminen: This game could have been over at the end of regulation had it not been for a great play by Teppo. With exactly one minute left in the third period, Demitra stormed the left wing and uncorked a heavy slapper that Khabibulin got with his left pad but couldn't control. Bartecko was driving the slot and had the rebound come directly out to him, but before he could pull the trigger Numminen raced in and belted him off the puck with a stiff check. That's just Teppo being Teppo.

Nikolai Khabibulin: Khabby gave his club a chance to win. He held the Coyotes in it during the overtime when they were getting severely outplayed. He did perhaps his best work in the bonus time, denying a Terry Yake slapper from the slot with his blocker, turning aside a MacInnis slapper with his right pad, and darting post-to-post to stuff Bartecko on a two-on-one.

Lines

St. Louis: Like Phoenix, the Blues went with just five defensemen. And even that's stretching it, since Jamie Rivers played sparingly. Courtnall, Yake, and Mayers never skated as a line, but were sprinkled in among the three provided combinations when the situation called for it.

OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)

Handzus - Turgeon - Young
Picard - Demitra - Bartecko
Atcheynum - Conroy - Eastwood
Courtnall, Yake, Mayers

DEFENSE

Pronger - Persson
MacInnis - Finley
Rivers, McAlpine

POWER PLAY

Demitra - Turgeon - Young - Pronger - MacInnis
Courtnall - Yake - Bartecko - Rivers - MacInnis

SHORT-HANDED

Atcheynum - Conroy - MacInnis - Pronger
Eastwood - Handzus - MacInnis - Pronger

Phoenix: J.J. Daigneault was the fifth defenseman and saw a pretty regular rotation.

OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)

Tkachuk - Roenick - Drake
Adams - Reichel - Tocchet
Noonan - Doan - Leach
Corkum - Stapleton - Hansen

DEFENSE

Diduck - Numminen
Lumme - Carney
Daigneault, Neckar

POWER PLAY

Tkachuk - Roenick - Drake - Lumme - Numminen
Adams - Reichel - Tocchet - Daigneault - Numminen

SHORT-HANDED

Tkachuk - Roenick - Diduck - Numminen
Corkum - Stapleton - Lumme - Carney

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