ST. LOUIS — Ryan O'Reilly (foot), Pavel Buchnevich (ankle) and Robert Thomas (ankle) all returned to the Blues' lineup as the Blues returned to hockey after an 11-day break.
Thanks to O'Reilly, winning returned to the Blues with a dramatic, up-and-down 6-5 overtime victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
The Blues had lost five in a row entering Saturday's game at Enterprise Center. And in the span of three periods, they fell behind 2-0, then took a 5-2 lead and then squandered that to send the contest in extra time tied 5-5.
O'Reilly's game winner, his 11th of the season, came 1:02 into overtime. The Blues improved to 24-25-3 on the season.
The Blues began the third period with 1:07 left on a power play, and just as the power play ended, several members of the first PP unit started to leave the ice. But Jordan Kyrou stayed and somehow managed to keep the puck in the zone and sent it over to Robert Thomas who sent a quick wrister in for his 13th goal of the season and a 3-2 St. Louis lead.
Rosen then scored the game’s next two goals to stretch the lead to 5-2 Blues. The first of the two came when trailing on a Tyler Pitlick-Alexey Toropchenko rush. Pitlick sent the puck over to Rosen for his sixth goal of the season which made it a 4-2 game at the 6:44 mark.
Less than two minutes later, Rosen struck again, this time from distance. So it was 5-2, giving Rosen his second two-goal game as a member of the Blues. He did so previously last April 17 in Nashville.
So who needs Jakob Chychrun? Rosen’s seventh goal matched the season total of the coveted Arizona defenseman — who was held out of the Coyotes lineup for “trade related reasons” according to Arizona.
But the Blues couldn’t relax because the Coyotes responded with goals by Clayton Keller and Nick Bjugstad (on the power play) to make it a 5-4 game with 6:46 to play.
And then with just 56.9 seconds to play and Arizona using an extra attacker with its goalie pulled, Lawson Crouse sent a one-timer in to tie the game at 5-5.
Hometown touch
St. Louis native Keller loves playing against his hometown team. The Arizona Coyotes’ all-star entered Saturday’s game with seven goals and 18 points against the Blues — both tied for his career high against any team.
Keller broke the ties in the opening minutes of Saturday’s game. Just 51 seconds into the contest, Keller scored his 20th goal of the season — and eighth career-wise against St. Louis — on a rebound of a Nick Schmaltz shot.
Blues defenseman Nick Leddy had inside position on Keller but couldn’t prevent Keller’s backhand goal from about seven feet.
It marked the fourth time this season an opposing team had scored in the opening minute of a game against St. Louis.
Midway through the period, Arizona took a 2-0 lead with Keller and Schmaltz reversing roles. With Buchnevich in the penalty box for tripping, Keller sent a seam pass to Schmaltz who scored on a shot that deflected in off Colton Parayko.
That made it four goals for Schmaltz in 3 1/2 periods against the Blues — he had his first career hat trick Jan. 26 at Mullett Arena in a 5-0 Coyotes win. The Blues had been 25 of 27 on the penalty kill in their previous 11 games prior to Saturday’s goal.
With Jordan Binnington leaving a lot of rebounds, the Blues were outshot 7-1 and down 2-0 when they had their best chance of the period when Buchnevich broke in alone on Coyotes goalie Karel Vejmelka, who made the save.
Welcome back, Sammy
In terms of goal-scoring, Sammy Blais went 0-for-New York, failing to score a goal in 54 contests played this year and last for the New York Rangers.
But he got the Enterprise crowd jumping with a second-period goal Saturday in his first game back with the Blues since Thursday’s Vladimir Tarasenko trade. With the Blues down 2-1, Blais had just left the box after a slashing penalty.
Leddy hit Blais with a stretch pass just outside the blue line for a breakaway against Vejmelka. Blais shaked and baked to get Vejmelka off his feet, and then flipped in a high backhander to tie the game at 2-2 with 2:41 left in the period.
Blais was ecstatic, as were his teammates and the fans at Enterprise. It was his first goal since May 1, 2021 in a 4-3 Blues overtime loss at Minnesota.
Playing on the third line, Blais was in the starting lineup, and when his name was announced he got the largest ovation among the starters — other than Binnington, who always gets the loudest cheers.
Not long before the second period ended, Binnington made a key save on a Lawson Crouse breakaway, preventing the Coyotes from taking a 3-2 lead with a short-handed goal.
Saad story
Brandon Saad finally got the Blues on the board against Arizona and Vejmelka midway through the second period with his 15th goal of the season. Saad put his deceptive speed to work, splitting a couple of Arizona defenders and skating in on Vejmelka.
The Arizona goalie stopped the first shot. But then Saad, from behind the goal line, sent a shot that bounced off the back of Vejmelka and in to make a 2-1 game with 9:40 left in the second.
