(HockeyStL) -- Chris Stewart said he has never felt better since losing twenty pounds during the extended offseason. He showed exactly how great he was feeling after scoring on a first period power play in the first period.
Stewart slammed into the boards with his fists pumped, but not until he gave the Blues a 2-0 lead on a goal scored at the top of the slot with an almost-abandoned Red Wings net.
Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard was caught out of position as the puck slid into open territory in front of the net and with only Stewart in the picture. All he had to do was not hit the defender blocking the open net for the goal.
It was a shot that Stewart might have missed last season when everything that could go wrong seemed to go poorly for the 25-year-old winger. Stewart posted only 30 points (15 goals, 15 assists) in 79 games played last season -- a far cry from the 23 points in his first 26 games as a member of the Blues.
Stewart didn’t stop there. He would score a power play goal a little over a minute into the third period. The goal would end the night for Howard, who allowed five goals on 28 shots.
“I was working on my foot speed over the summer time and that’s one of the main goals I want to work on and I think I showed that on the second goal,” Stewart said.
The last multi-goal game for Stewart came on December 26, 2011 against the Stars.
