ST. LOUIS — The Blues will be nothing if not entertaining.
For the third straight game, the Blues scored six goals, this time in a 6-5 overtime win over the Canucks on Tuesday night at Enterprise Center. The latest offensive outburst moved the Blues into a tie with Vancouver in the NHL standings, and was their fifth win in the last seven games.
Jakub Vrana scored the game-winning goal for the Blues 21 seconds into overtime. It was his second goal of the night.
Pavel Buchnevich (one goal, one assist), Justin Faulk (one goal, one assist) and Brandon Saad (two assists) each had two-point nights for St. Louis, as Alexey Toropchenko and Robert Thomas also scored for the Blues. Jordan Binnington made 32 saves to earn his second win since returning from a two-game suspension.
The Blues carried a 5-3 lead into the third period, but Andrei Kuzmenko’s second goal of the night with 7:42 left in the third period cut the lead to 5-4, and Quinn Hughes’ second of the evening in the final minute of the period tied the game at 5.
Since the beginning of March, the Blues are one of the highest-scoring teams in the NHL, and entered Tuesday fourth in the league with 53 goals in the month. Their games have averaged 7.7 total goals between both teams, also the fourth-most in the league in the month.
So as a playoff-less season winds down, the Blues have found themselves engaged in high-scoring affairs.
Capitalizing on mistakes
In the first period, both teams were opportunistic in taking advantage of the other team’s mistakes to find the back of the net.
Quinn Hughes made up for his own giveaway by turning a Jordan Kyrou offensive-zone turnover into the game’s first goal. After Kyrou’s turnover, Hughes toted the puck up the ice, dished to J.T. Miller, who set up Brock Boeser for a one-timer in the left circle. In the opposite circle, Hughes pounced on a big rebound to deposit his sixth goal of the season in the net vacated by Binnington.
Toropchenko scored his seventh of the season 5:44 later to tie the game at 1. At his own blue line, Toropchenko read Guillaume Brisebois’ intended pass for Miller and spring himself on the rush. He looked off a potential pass to teammate Nathan Walker before blowing a shot by Thatcher Demko. It was Toropchenko’s second goal in the last four games, and second against the Canucks this season.
About five minutes later, Faulk blasted a one-timer from the left circle after he held in a Vancouver clearing attempt at the blue line. Faulk has gotten hot in the last week, with six points in the last three games.
Kuzmenko’s power play goal with 19 seconds left in the first period tied the game at 2 before the first intermission.
Overall, the Blues had 17 shots on goal in the first period, which matched their first period total in Anaheim on Saturday night. The Blues have not had more than 17 shots in a period since the third period in Arizona on March 7.
Outside the game against the Ducks, the Blues have struggled to generate shots on goal. Here are the totals in for the last six games: 22, 17, 22, 22, 36, 22.
The Blues likely could have scored more than two goals in the first period on Tuesday night, as an extended offensive-zone shift by the top line yielded multiple chances. Thomas fanned on an opportunity at the edge of the crease, Colton Parayko rang the post and Kyrou missed a shot wide of the net.
PK issues
The Blues allowed two power play goals on Tuesday night, and are now 2 for 8 in the last two games on the penalty kill. On Sunday, the Kings scored four power play goals. It was the first time this season that Blues allowed multiple power play goals in consecutive games.
Kuzmenko’s first-period power play goal came at the net-front as he snuck a puck through Binnington. Boeser’s second-period power play goal was on a tip of a Hughes point shot.
Before the game, Blues coach Craig Berube was asked about his team’s penalty kill in Los Angeles.
“We just weren’t dialed in,” Berube said. “There was just mistakes: mistakes on clears, mistakes on who’s got who. We weren’t on our toes. That’s the bottom line. We just didn’t do a very good job.”
St. Louis successfully killed Jordan Kyrou’s holding the stick penalty in the third period.
Before the last two games, the Blues’ PK was 31 for 38 (81.6%) in the previous 14 games.
Neighbours mixes it up
Blues forward Jake Neighbours got in his second career fight on Tuesday night, this time against Canucks forward Kyle Burroughs in the second period. Moments before the scrap, Neighbours dumped Vancouver defenseman Ethan Bear in the corner along the boards, and Burroughs confronted Neighbours in front of the Blues bench.
Neighbours’ first fight came on Jan. 16 against Ottawa’s Parker Kelly.
It was the Blues’ third fight in the last six games, as Brayden Schenn (March 19 vs. Winnipeg) and Walker (Thursday in Detroit). That doesn’t include the brouhaha with the Wild on March 15.
