ST. LOUIS — The Blues just can’t get this overtime thing down. They have been a top 10 team all season long in the overall stands. But they remain near the bottom of the barrel when it comes to OT.
The latest example came Sunday against the Winnipeg Jets. After a late goal by Brayden Schenn tied the game at 3-3 and forced overtime. Pierre-Luc Dubois scored on a 2-on-1 rush in overtime, giving the Jets (27-23-10) a 4-3 win over the Blues (34-17-8).
The Blues fell to 1-6 this season in overtime.
There are late scratches, and then there was Robert Thomas on Sunday against Winnipeg. Thomas, who has been red-hot lately, took part in pregame line rushes just 15 minutes or so before puck drop at Enterprise Center.
But as the teams took the ice for the game, no Thomas. He was scratched with illness, perhaps the same bug that sidelined Tyler Bozak and David Perron recently. Thomas was coming off a career-high four points (two goals, two assists) Saturday against Nashville and had two goals Thursday against the New York Rangers.
So it was a blow to be sure. But the Blues are used to such things by now. Be it COVID, injury, 11 forwards, you name it. Logan Brown, who was expected to sit out with the return of Oskar Sundvist, was back 3in the lineup.
A little late line shuffling by coach Craig Berube, and off we go.
Winnipeg got off to a quick start, and then got 1:01 of a 5-on-3 power play when first Jordan Kyrou (hooking) and then Brandon Saad (tripping) went to the box with penalties. The Blues penalty kill, you may recall, has been struggling lately – allowing seven power play goals in its previous six games.
But the Blues killed off the 5-on-3 without a single shot on goal by Winnipeg and made it back to even strength with the game still scoreless in the opening period.
Those kinds of things can change momentum, and such was the case Sunday. With 4:32 left in the first, Evgeny Svechnikov went off for slashing Torey Krug. Svechnikov also got a 10-minute misconduct in the process.
A Blues player even hotter than Thomas gave the home team a 1-0 lead with a blistering shot past Connor Hellebuyck from the left circle on the power play. Slowed by a concussion and COVID, Perron went from the day before Thanksgiving to two days before Valentine’s Day with just one goal.
But just look at him now. Sunday’s goal gave him 17 for the season and eight in his last seven games.
In what was a tight, evenly-played game, the Blues held their 1-0 lead for much of the second period. Jordan Binnington looked sharp, as did Hellebuyck, who entered the game having allowed four or more goals in each of his last six games.
Midway through the period, what looked like a Blues’ opportunity turned into a tie game, in the blink of an eye. Justin Faulk was leading a 3-on-2 rush in the center of the ice. Faulk waited just an instant too long to pass the puck, it was intercepted by the Jets who took off on a two-on-zero break, with Kyle Connor passing to Nikolaj Ehlers for a backside goal to tie the game with 9:09 left in the second. It was Ehlers’ 15th of the season.
The game seemed destined to go into the third period tied at 1-1, but with the period winding down, Brayden Schenn intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, and just inside the blue line made a cross-ice pass to Vladimir Tarasenko.
The pass was just a little behind Tarasenko, who had to reach back for it. In a way, that helped him load up for the shot, which he whisked by Hellebuyck to make it a 2-1 game. It snapped an eight-game goal drought for Tarasenko, who joined Kyrou as the only Blues player with 20 goals so far this season.
And it came with just 27 seconds left in the period Regardless of the period, late goals can be momentum changers.
That was not the case Sunday. It was all Winnipeg to start the third period. The Jets had eight of the first 10 shots on goal to start the period – and two of them ended up in the net.
First it was Mark Scheifele capping a net-front scramble with his 22nd goal of the season. So it was a 2-2 game with 13:30 left to play. Just 63 seconds later, Winnipeg was on top 3-2. After a Marco Scandella turnover in the St. Louis zone, Kyle Connor buried his 37th goal of the season with a clean look at Binnington. There was no one between Connor and Binnington.
With the game winding down, the momentum stayed with Winnipeg. The Blues had next to no possession time.
With 3:51, Brandon Saad blistered a shot from about 30 feet away that hit metal – right where the post meets the crossbar. The fans in the sellout crowd of 18,096 thought it was a goal, but there was no review. And no goal.
Just as Binnington headed to the bench for an extra attacker, Schenn shot from one knee from the left faceoff circle – right past Hellebuyck, tying the game with just 2:11 to play. It was Schenn’s 17th goal of the season and snapped a six-game goal drought.
