When Kasperi Kapanen can skate like the dickens, the St. Louis Blues forward is a dangerous weapon.
Kapanen, who had an assist and played 16:32 in a 4-3 overtime loss against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, utilized his speed well in this game.
The forward was dropped down to the fourth line in Thursday's 5-2 win against the New York Rangers but was quickly elevated back up to play with Kevin Hayes and Alexey Toropchenko on the third line.
He drove a puck wide and fed Hayes in the left circle for a one-timer that produced the tying goal in the first period, he had what amounted to be a third period shorthanded breakaway that was stopped by Jeremy Swayman and was effective throughout the game using his skates.
We played pretty decent today," Kapanen said. "Our second period wasn't great, but we competed hard. Guys were blocking shots, back-checking. Overtime, it can go either way. It might have been a little something there on Robby's trip [Robert Thomas], but we've got to move forward and take the positives out of this.
"[Hayes] is obviously a tremendous player and I'm lucky to play with him."
Kapanen was a plus-1 for the game and played 3:01 on the penalty kill, more than any Blues forward and only less than Colton Parayko (3:56) and Nick Leddy (3:43).
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