ST. LOUIS — Beginning a season-long, seven-game homestand, the Blues refused to come back to earth in a 4-3 overtime win over the Flames on Tuesday night.
Facing a two-goal deficit entering the third period, the Blues scored three straight goals, capped by Robert Thomas’ game-winning goal, to stun Calgary. Thomas won the game 28 seconds into overtime by finishing a 2 on 1 with Jordan Kyrou.
The Blues have now won four of the five games since losing Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko to injury. St. Louis is 10-3-2 in its last 15 games despite mounting injuries.
Jordan Kyrou (one goal and two assists) and Pavel Buchnevich (a goal and an assist) each had multi-point evenings, while Jordan Binnington made 28 saves.
A lackluster and sleepy second period in which the Blues generated few quality scoring looks gave way to a frenetic third period that jumpstarted the St. Louis rally. Nikita Alexandrov scored his second career NHL goal by pouncing on a Steven Santini rebound on the rush just 2:20 into the third period.
Twenty-eight seconds later, Kyrou tied the game with a shot from the high slot that beat Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom. It was Kyrou’s 20th goal of the season, and just his fifth of the year at home.
Momentarily, it looked like the Blues had taken a 4-3 lead at 5:32 of the third period, but Robert Thomas’ goal was taken off the board due to a successful offside challenge by Calgary’s Darryl Sutter.
The third-period about-face was a welcome change after the Flames generally but not dominantly carried play in the opening 40 minutes. All three of Calgary’s goals in the first two periods came at the net-front: Milan Lucic’s stuff on the rush, Mikael Backlund’s tip on the edge of the crease and Andrew Mangiapane’s open look from the slot.
Lucic beat the backchecking Blues to finish off a 3 on 2 Calgary rush. Backlund shrugged off Tyler Tucker at the net-front to free his stick for a deflection. Mangiapane scored as three Blues stood stationary to the left of Binnington.
That doesn’t count the two posts the Flames rang during the second period.
But in the third period, the Blues had six of the period’s first eight shots on goal to steal momentum and set up the game-winner.
Buchnevich strikes first
After drawing a tripping penalty to put the Blues on the power play in the first period, Pavel Buchnevich scored on it, banking an attempted pass to Robert Thomas off Flames defenseman Chris Tanev on the rush.
The goal extended a pair of streaks for St. Louis: it was the seventh straight game the Blues scored first, and it was the fifth consecutive one they scored at least one power play goal.
Buchnevich also had a prime scoring chance later in the period in transition, but missed the net.
Buchnevich’s hot start was part of a disjointed open to the game that featured three penalties and a goal in the first 3:50. At 1:40 of the first period, Steven Santini was whistled for cross-checking Dillon Dube into the boards. Five seconds later, Nazem Kadri was called for interference. Then Buchnevich drew a tripping call in the slot on Nikita Zadorov.
By the time Buchnevich scored, only 100 seconds had been played at 5 on 5, and the Blues fourth line had yet to receive a shift.
Kadri’s return to St. Louis
Kadri played his first game in St. Louis since last season’s second-round playoff series between the Avalanche and Blues, and he was booed every time he touched the puck by the Enterprise Center crowd.
Kadri, who signed a seven-year, $49 million contract with the Flames over the summer, was the center of controversy last spring after his collision with Jordan Binnington in Game 3 knocked the Blues goaltender out of the series. After the game, there was the infamous water bottle incident, and Kadri had a hat trick in Game 4.
The Avalanche won the series in six games on their way to winning the Stanley Cup.
On Tuesday night, Kadri was whistled for an early interference call that negated a Flames power play. When the penalty was announced, it drew a chorus of cheers. One of the biggest reactions from the crowd came near the end of the first period, when Noel Acciari hammered Kadri in the neutral zone.
Kadri, though, picked up a primary assist on Milan Lucic’s first-period goal, finding a crashing Lucic on the backdoor. Blues coach Craig Berube and his coaching staff briefly paused to look at Jonathan Huberdeau’s entry for offside, but chose not to challenge the goal.
The Blues also host the Flames on Thursday night.
-- Robert Thomas wore an “A” on Tuesday night, joining Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko with letters on their chest. Without captain Ryan O’Reilly and alternate captain Vladimir Tarasenko due to injury, Justin Faulk wore an “A” for the Blues on the most recent four-game road trip.
