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ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues acquired Ryan Miller for moments such as these. Miller stopped 31 shots and kept the net empty in a shootout, too. He was precisely as advertised, a goalie that be a difference-maker when theres no room for mistakes. "Millsy standing on his head -- thats what we brought him here to do," forward T.J. Oshie said after the Blues outlasted the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 on Tuesday night and matched the franchise record with their 51st win. "There were some saves where you feel like youre about to put your head down because its going to go in the net, and he seems so calm and just sticks his pad out and saves it." Miller is 10-3-1 with a 2.01 goals-against average and .920 save percentage since coming in a trade with Buffalo. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk scored in the shootout for the Blues, who have 109 points -- one fewer than Boston for the top spot in the NHL. Theyre 9-3 in the shootout largely because of Oshie, whos an uncanny 9 for 12 after converting a backhand, and also put on quite a show at the Sochi Olympics. "Yeah, I knew he was good and I knew what to expect," Ray Emery said. "But he was real quick on that one." Miller earned his 29th career shutout and first in 101 games since March 21, 2012, against Montreal when he was with Buffalo. He made a skate save against Vincent Lecavalier and a glove save on Claude Giroux -- whos 5 for 10 -- in the shootout. Emery, the Flyers backup making just his third start since the beginning of March, earned his 16th career shutout and second this season. "He definitely won us a point tonight," Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said. "In two weeks when the seasons over well see how big that point is." Miller was motivated after giving up four goals in a loss to Dallas on Saturday night, plus the Flyers are a familiar foe from his seasons in Buffalo. Hes 14-13-2 against the Flyers and this was his first shutout against them. "It was a fun night," Miller said. "When the pucks are hitting you, its a lot of fun." It was the third 1-0 shootout victory in Blues history and first since Feb. 1, 2008, against Anaheim. One of Millers best saves came with 1:30 to go in overtime when he stretched out and denied Jakub Voraceks bid to slide the puck under his pads. "At this point in my career, Im just trying to be really calm about everything," Miller said. "No sense letting things get off the rails and panicking too much." Both teams killed penalties in the final five minutes of regulation, with a high-sticking call to Giroux stretching into the first 36 seconds of overtime for Philadelphia. St. Louis penalty killers have allowed three goals on 36 chances the past 12 home games. The Flyers played in St. Louis for the first time since the 2010-11 opener. Miller foiled two breakaways in the opening minutes, one created when defencemen Alex Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk collided. He made an outstanding left pad save on Michael Raffl to thwart a 2-on-1 break early in the second period. Two Blues hit the goalpost in the second period, Jaden Schwartz in the opening minute and Pietrangelo in the final minute. Notes: Flyers D Kimmo Timonen did not make the trip after taking a puck to the chin. Alex Gustafsson played for the first time since Feb. 27. ... The Blues tricked a fan between the second and third periods who was blindfolded at centre ice and then shot several yards wide of the net, telling him hed won $15,000. The fan did a celebratory belly flop on the ice before being told hed been duped. ... The Blues last 0-0 regulation game was March 22, 2012, at Los Angeles, a 1-0 shootout loss. ... The Flyers have been shut out four times. ... The Blues also won 51 games in 1999-2000, when they won the Presidents Trophy. . The incident occurred at 6:28 of the first period in Anaheims 6-3 home win over Dallas on Sunday. Garbutt left the penalty box and skated at Penner before leaving his skates to deliver a check. . The mood in Seattle was electrified as the parade featuring the NFL champions began near the Space Needle and made its way to CenturyLink Field, the home of the team. At a ceremony inside the stadium, the team thanked its loyal followers -- the 12th Man -- capping a day of boisterous celebration that drew an estimated 700,000 revelers to Seattle. . On the eve of the 2013-14 NBA season, he can finally take a step back and allow his team to do the talking. . Its a blessing and a burden for nine sons of former NHL players who are all expected to be taken in the first four rounds of the draft this weekend. . - Considering where Jeff Gordon was after Richmond, left out of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in part due to some late-race shenanigans, he couldnt have been happier on Sunday.PINEHURST, N.C. -- At least Phil Mickelson probably wont face another close call at the U.S. Open. The six-time runner-up and zero-time champion slipped well off the pace Friday with a 73 that left him at 3 over -- 13 strokes behind record-setting leader Martin Kaymer. Its mostly because of his putter. After ditching the claw grip in favour of a more traditional one, Mickelson missed a series of putts that would have put him at least a little closer to Kaymer. "The hole looks like a thimble to me right now," Mickelson said. "Im having a hard time finding it." Now, at a tournament where everybodys seemingly playing for second, hes facing quite a climb to claw back within striking distance on a Pinehurst No. 2 course that 15 years ago was the site of the first of his many second-place finishes. Teenage playing partner Matthew Fitzpatrick called Mickelson "the master" of "getting out of trouble" and that ability certainly will be put to the test this weekend. "I feel like Im playing well enough to win the U.S. Open," Mickelson said. "Except for putting." Mickelson has been saying his putting could use some tweaking. Hes 100th among PGA Tour players in total putting this year after finishing 11th in that stat in 2013. So in an attempt to get his stroke back, he switched to a claw grip for the Open. Even after he shot even par during the first round, he said he wasnt sure how long hed stick with it. All of 18 holes, it turned out. "I felt like I identified what I was struggling with, and I thought it was my eye line had gotten well over the golf ball," Mickelson said. "So as I moved the ball away and put my eyes over the ball instead of over the top, I felt like thats how I putted last year, so I went back to my regular grip." Reverting back to the conventional grip for Round 2, Mickelson got off to an encouraging start with birdies on consecutive early holes. Then came the pesky par-3 sixth that "shook me a little bit." Mickelson plopped his tee shot onto the green, but three-putted for a four after his short par atttempt hugged the lip of the cup before spinning out.dddddddddddd Two holes later, he pushed his short putt wide left and settled for bogey -- the second straight day he bogeyed both holes. "After that," he said, "I was really fighting it." He added bogeys on two holes he birdied a day earlier -- on the par-5 10th, and on the 14th after spinning another short par putt around the lip of the cup. He ended his round by missing an 11-foot par putt on the 18th and tapping in for his fifth bogey. "Whenever you putt well and you make short ones and you make those 5-, 6-footers and youre running a couple of 20-footers in, the game feels easy," Mickelson said. "You dont put pressure on yourself to hit it close. You can hit more of the middle of the greens. Your ball striking then becomes a lot easier. Your targets are a lot bigger." Because that hasnt happened here yet, it sure looks like when Mickelson turns 44 on Monday, hell still be one victory shy of the career Grand Slam. The three-time Masters champ, 2005 PGA Championship winner and 2013 British Open champion began his run of runner-ups at this course 15 years ago when it staged its first Open. He was preparing for a playoff with the late Payne Stewart when Stewart sank a memorable 15-foot putt for par and the win -- and a statue of Stewart in that moment stands just beyond the green on 18. Mickelson led by a stroke heading into the last hole at Winged Foot in 2006 but finished with a double bogey. Last year, at Merion he led during the final round but finished two strokes behind Justin Rose. But after the way his putter struggled in Round 2, second place doesnt sound too bad. Besides, hes only seven strokes behind Brendon Todd for second. "Im not overly optimistic. Obviously Im not in good position, but more than that ... you cant fire at a lot of the pins," he said. "Youve got to make 25-, 30-footers, Im just not doing it. Im not going to give up. You just never know. Ive had rounds that kind of clicked. ... Tomorrow, I need to shoot 6- or 7-under par to have a realistic chance." ' ' '
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