The Vancouver Canucks and St. Louis Blues squared off on Monday night in a Western Conference battle between two teams desperate to make the playoffs. The Blues entered this game only two points behind the Canucks in the standings and Vancouver began the game three points behind the Calgary Flames for the final wild card spot in the West. The game was crucial for both teams and had major implications.
Game Recap
With the game being so important, you knew the scoring would start fast. The Canucks got the party started nearly three minutes into the game when Jake DeBrusk chipped a puck past a St. Louis defender and got it to Quinn Hughes. Hughes entered the zone on a 2-on-1 and sent the puck to Conor Garland, who scored to give Vancouver the early 1-0 lead. Right off of the faceoff after the Canucks opened the scoring, J.T. Miller and Brayden Schenn engaged in a fight that Schenn won after ripping off Miller’s helmet and tagging him on the jaw with a punch and Miller fell to the ice. A good tilt between two star players.
The Blues looked to have tied the game with five minutes left in the period, but the goal was immediately waved off due to goaltender interference on Dylan Holloway. Blues coach Jim Montgomery challenged the play and the officials discussed the play. After a lengthy review, the referees upheld the call and the Blues went to the PK for delay of game due to an unsuccessful challenge. On that powerplay, Canucks forward Brock Boeser fired the puck on net and Jordan Binnington could not secure it in his pads and Garland fired it into the empty net for his second goal of the game giving Vancouver a 2-0 lead. A highly unfortunate series of events for St. Louis. The period ended with Vancouver having a 2-0 lead and a 10-4 advantage on the shot clock.
The second period saw the Canucks continue to pour on the pressure. Vancouver kept on getting offensive chances and the Blues couldn’t generate any major chances of their own. St. Louis took an offensive zone penalty near the midway point of the period and the Canucks went back to the powerplay. On the man advantage, Hughes retrieved the puck in his own zone and fired a dart up the middle of the ice to Miller for a breakaway and he sniped a shot past Binnington to give the Canucks a 3-0 lead. Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankinen also got an assist on the play as he passed the puck to Hughes in the defensive zone. After allowing another goal, the Blues pulled Binnington and replaced him with backup Joel Hofer.
Shortly after going up 3-0, the Canucks took a penalty putting the Blues on the advantage. Justin Faulk set up Dylan Holloway for a one-timer and St. Louis finally found themselves on the board cutting the score to 3-1. Quickly after cutting the lead to two, the Blues were awarded a four-minute powerplay after Nils Höglander high-sticked Robert Thomas and drew blood. On the advantage, the Blues turned the puck over and Pius Suter got sent in on a breakaway and scored five-hole on Hofer to restore the Canucks’ three-goal lead. Vancouver took their new lead into the dressing room for the second intermission.
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In the third period, the Blues had a tall task in front of them as they attempted to come back from a three-goal deficit. But they started the period off right with a goal from Colton Parayko that he banked in off of a Canucks defender to bring the score to 4-2 Vancouver. The Blues looked to have gotten a little bit of momentum after that goal, but they could not find the back of the net to bring them closer to tying the game. The minutes ticked down and eventually, St. Louis pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. Vancouver kept draining the clock with the net empty and Tyler Myers scored into the open cage to solidify a 5-2 win for the Canucks.
This win now puts the Canucks four points ahead of the Blues in the standings and one point behind the Flames for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
