The St. Louis Blues entered their 70th game of the season in dire need of two points. Not only did they need the win, but they had a chance to vault themselves into sole possession of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
Their opponent? The team they were tied on points with - the Vancouver Canucks.
Things started very well for the Blues. After Vancouver got a couple early shots, the Canucks did not have another shot on goal for over 11 minutes of game time.
Meanwhile, the Blues created six scoring chances in the first period and 12 shots on goal overall. Unfortunately, despite only allowing three shots, the game remained scoreless after 20 minutes.
The Canucks opened the second with an early push, testing Jordan Binnington more in the first few minutes than they did in the entire first period. The Blues withstood it and buckled down, keeping the Canucks shotless for eight minutes.
St. Louis finally got on the board with just over four minutes left in the middle frame. Zack Bolduc spun and just fired one towards the goal from the wing. It went off a Vancouver stick and into the net, putting the Blues up 1-0. It stayed that way into the intermission.
Vancouver had another push coming out of the locker room. This time, it paid off as they tied the game just 1:11 into the third.
In what became a theme, Vancouver got bodies to the front of the net. The shot from the right circle went high to the glove side, making it 1-1.
The Canucks took the lead just a bit over five minutes later. Brock Boeser scored from almost the same spot, to the blocker this time. It came very close to glancing off Justin Faulk's shin, but either way, the Blues defender screened his goalie, and it was 2-1.
Things felt bleak since the Calgary Flames had completed a comeback win 5-3 after trailing 3-1. However, the Blues weren't scoreboard watching and tied it three minutes later.
Tyler Tucker ripped one towards the goal after a Blues faceoff win. It glanced off another defender's stick into the side netting, and it was 2-2.
As the goal was being announced, the Blues struck again. Jordan Kyrou utilized his speed, drawing two defenders to him on the right wing. That left Dylan Holloway open for the backdoor feed, and it was 3-2 Blues just 24 seconds later.
St. Louis held that lead for just over 10 minutes. Unfortunately, there was more than 10 minutes left.
The Blues had things going their way in the final seconds. The Canucks passed the puck out of the zone and had to regroup at center.
Too many Blues got sucked to one side of the ice while tracking a Quinn Hughes pass. Elias Pettersson got it just over the blue line and found Boeser wide open on the right wing.
The entire four-man defensive box for the Blues was on the near side of the zone, leaving Boeser open to slam a slap shot past Binnington to make it 3-3 and send it to overtime.
It felt like things just wouldn't go the Blues way. They couldn't do much with several Vancouver turnovers, Faulk blasted one off the post and then Kyrou almost jammed it in on the rebound, but had it stopped at the goal line.
However, St. Louis would not be outdone. They nabbed a Pettersson turnover at their blue line, transitioned to a two-on-one, and Brayden Schenn got the pass to Philip Broberg, who finished the game off with a scooped backhander.
The Blues won 4-3.
Pro: Tucker
I fully admit that I've somewhat soured on Tyler Tucker. He plays with a grit that fits in with this franchise perfectly, but he makes many boneheaded plays and often plays himself out of the lineup.
Yet, it cannot be denied that he staked a claim to keep a spot even if Colton Parayko gets healthy at the end of the season. Tucker did a little bit of everything in this game.
Tucker got credit for an assist on the Holloway goal, but it was more important than that. He blocked a shot from just inside mid-range, which was important to keep the game tied. The fact that the block led to a transition and a goal was icing on the cake.
The goal was just a smart hockey play. Though he'll tell you differently now, I highly doubt Tucker was looking to score with that shot. Still, you can't score if you don't get pucks to the net and he got rewarded for doing just that.
Con: Another late meltdown
We can laugh at this since the team won, but these late-game mishaps are very concerning. Even if it's in the single digits, the fact that the Blues keep coughing up leads at the end of games is not good.
This one wasn't quite as bad as the others. You didn't get the sense the Blues were just too frantic.
However, they still didn't keep their head. Pavel Buchnevich pressured the puck in the neutral zone, but got juked by Hughes.
St. Louis had four defenders crash the right side of their zone. It's hard to have backside awareness when the other team has an extra skater, but it just seemed like all four guys were too concerned with the puck.
Pro: Second line
Except for the first goal of the game, the Blues second line (or at least members of it) were on the ice for the goals.
Schenn finished the night with two assists and won 75% of his draws, one of which led to an assist on the Tucker goal. Kyrou finished with one assist, but it was a huge one to Holloway that gave the Blues the lead at the time.
Holloway also finished with two points, a goal, and an assist. The goal we mentioned and the assist was the secondary assist on the game winner, springing the attack in the first place.
Overview:
This win was huge. The Blues simply had to take down the Canucks to really put the pressure on their western Canadian rivals.
Calgary was briefly tied with the other two teams at 75 points. So, they'll be very disappointed not to be tied with anyone after their comeback win.
Ideally, you get the win in regulation and move a full two points up on Vancouver. At this stage, you just need the two points.
The Blues now have 12 games left. It would have been better to be up two points, but as long as you're sitting in the final wild card spot by yourself, you've at least done the work to get there.
The only disconcerting thing from this game was the Blues inability to capitalize early. You do everything right in the first period, but don't get the goals. If it's 2-0 after 20, this game might be a different story.
Nevertheless, the ability to shrug off the disappointment and just keep coming was key. The Blues hit two posts and came up empty twice when either the crowd or a player on the ice thought they had a goal.
Being in the playoff spot instead of continually looking upward is a big difference. How they got there is far from perfect, but it's better than the alternative. Early in the season, this was the kind of game the Blues lost.
Now, the Blues have won four in a row again. They hadn't won three straight all year long and have won four in a row twice in about a month.
Very quickly, I'd like to dedicate this article to my mom, who has been a Blues fan since going to a game in the team's inaugural season. She passed away earlier this week, so this was the first ever Blues game where she wasn't around for it.
Maybe with her watching from above, they can go on a magical run to end the season. For now, personally, it was a nice bit of normalcy to watch a game, experience some minor frustration and also see the team come out with a W.