Blues Win President's Trophy
Chris Pronger had no intention of taking any victory laps with the President's Trophy on Wednesday.
"I didn't want to carry it off, it might have broke," said the St. Louis Blues captain after his team clinched the NHL's best record with a 6-5 win over the Calgary Flames. "But that's (for the) regular season, We've got bigger things to go after."
Still, Blues coach Joel Quenneville said the trophy symbolizes something.
"I've never done it before, so it felt pretty good," Quenneville said. "It says something about what we accomplished as a team. We improved our depth and we improved our consistent play. We found a way to win many games, and one example of that was tonight."
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Pellerin had a goal and two assists in the third period. He capped a wild final period by scoring with 5:10 remaining when Calgary goalie Fred Brathwaite's clearing attempt ricocheted in off Pellerin's skates.
The play was reviewed, but ultimately allowed to stand, much to Pellerin's relief.
"I didn't give a motion to kick it in," Pellerin said. "I just kind of stopped. But I knew it went in off my foot. I knew it could have gone either way."
Brathwaite was not sure what happened on the play.
I didn't even see it, to tell you the truth," Brathwaite said. "The puck hit me and went back out. I went to poke it and then I had no idea where it went."
Earlier in the third, Pellerin sent both Scott Young and Pierre Turgeon in on breaks against Brathwaite. Young beat Brathwaite with a wrist shot to tie the game 4-4, and Turgeon gave the Blues a 5-4 lead when his shot trickled between Brathwaite's pads.
The victory, before a season-high 20,361 fans, gave the Blues a league-best 113 points. St. Louis finishes the regular season with a home-and-home series against the Chicago Blackhawks this weekend.
Savard, who had never scored more than twice in a game, beat goalie Roman Turek with a one-timer at 12:56 of the third period to tie the game 5-5.
The loss officially ended the Flames' postseason hopes.
"It's a tough situation for sure," Savard said. "We worked hard all night and to lose on a goal like that.
Pronger had a goal and three assists and Turgeon added another goal and an assist for the Blues. The victory was the 42nd for Turek, tying him with New Jersey's Martin Brodeur for the league lead.
Jamal Mayers also scored for the Blues. Jeff Shantz scored Calgary's other goal.
After Pronger scored at 1:00 of the second period to give the Blues a 3-2 lead, Savard and the Flames took over.
Calgary outshot the Blues 17-5 for the period, and Savard scored twice to give the Flames a 4-3 lead.
Savard's second goal came when he stole an errant Al MacInnis pass and blasted a slap shot from the right circle that trickled past Turek. He grabbed his third goal of the game by sneaking in from the left side and shooting a one-timer by Turek at 19:26.
Savard scored his first goal 5:30 into the contest on a power play.
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