St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Alexander Steen scored the game-winner 3:47 into the third period to make Ryan Miller's home debut a successful one, as the St. Louis Blues edged the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-2, on Tuesday at Scottrade Center.
St. Louis trailed 2-0 after a shaky first period from Miller, but the Blues battled back with goals from Patrik Berglund and T.J. Oshie in the second before Steen found the back of the net early in the third to give the home team their first and only lead of the game.
Vladimir Tarasenko tacked on an empty-netter, while Miller made 15 saves to notch his second straight victory with St. Louis, which acquired the 33-year- old goaltender, along with forward Steve Ott, from the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
"In Buffalo, I really liked to form a relationship with the fans and the people and I'm looking forward to doing that here," Miller said after making his first start in front of the St. Louis faithful.
Alex Killorn and Tyler Johnson each scored once, while Ben Bishop stopped 25 shots for the Lightning, who have lost three of their last four games.
"If you're going to sit here and take 16 shots in one game, 17 shots in another game, 21 shots another game and expect to win games, it's not going to happen," Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. "Not a chance."
With Tampa Bay leading 2-0 early in the second period, Berglund brought the Blues within a goal at 3:32 when he picked up a rebound in the slot and glided into the left circle before ripping a wrister under the glove of Bishop.
Oshie evened the score with 2:56 left in the stanza, as he split two defenders in the low right circle and made Martin St. Louis fall with a deke before backhanding the disc past Bishop's blocker to make it 2-2.
Steen put St. Louis on top under four minutes into the third when he accepted a behind-the-net feed from David Backes in the slot before switching to his backhand and roofing the disc over Bishop's glove for a 3-2 lead at 3:47.
Steen was sent off for goaltender interference at 7:08, but Miller stood tall between the pipes to keep Tampa Bay from finding the equalizer.
Tarasenko's empty-netter at 19:21 accounted for the final margin.
The Lightning struck first just over seven minutes in when Teddy Purcell picked off a pass deep in the St. Louis end and quickly centered the disc for Killorn, who snuck a shot past Miller for a 1-0 lead at 7:08.
Johnson potted a power-play goal with 5:11 left in the first period to push Tampa Bay's lead to 2-0.
Game Notes
Miller, who made 23 saves in the Blues' 4-2 win over Phoenix on Sunday, improved to 20-9-0 in his career against Tampa Bay ... The Lightning went 1- for-4 on the power play while St. Louis failed on both of its chances ... Jaden Schwartz and Backes each had two assists for St. Louis.
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