EDMONTON, Alberta _ Well, it had to happen sometime, right? On their 22nd day in the Edmonton bubble and in their seventh attempt to win a hockey game here, the St. Louis Blues were successful Sunday night.
Playing in their road whites, they defeated pesky Vancouver 3-2 at Rogers Place, trimming the Canucks' lead in the best-of-seven series to two games to one. Brayden Schenn scored the game winner on a breakaway with 4:54 left in OT. The group exhale by the Blues probably could be felt all the way back in St. Louis.
Perhaps they can make a series out of this after all. After Sunday's victory, the Blues need to win three of five games to keep playing. Still a daunting task, but obviously much more manageable than being down 3-0 in the series.
They get back at it in less than 24 hours, with another 9:30 p.m. (Central) start Monday. It's the Blues' first set of back-to-back games in the playoffs since 2004 against the San Jose Sharks.
With Jordan Binnington struggling, coach Craig Berube decided to make a switch in goal, going with Jake Allen. In statistics that include round-robin play, Binnington ranks 34th among 35 goalies who have appeared in the postseason this year in goals-against average at 4.27. He's tied for 33rd in save percentage at .862.
Dating back to the start of the team's playoff run last year, Binnington had started 28 consecutive playoff games. (That's not including the round-robin contests here.)
For Allen, it was his first playoff start _ in an elimination series _ since the 2016-17 season against Nashville, and only his second start in the Edmonton bubble. He lost 2-1 in a shootout Aug. 9 against Dallas, stopping 37 of 38 shots in the Blues' round-robin finale.
Entering Sunday's contest, the Blues had been 0-5-1 here and were oustscored 23-11 in the process. (Those totals included a 4-0 exhibition loss to Chicago.)
A scoreless third period sent the Blues and Canucks into overtime for the second game in a row, this time tied 2-2 Sunday night at Rogers Place.
After a bit of a shaky start in the third period, the Blues started taking control with solid forechecking and zone time. Brayden Schenn, who has been hitting everything in sight but hasn't done much offensively, had a good chance in close with 11:50 to play but couldn't connect.
About four minutes later he had another good look in the slot off a feed from Jordan Kyrou, but it was gloved by Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom.
The Blues had a golden opportunity to close the game out in regulation when Loui Eriksson was sent off for high-sticking Kyrou with exactly two minutes left. But the Blues couldn't get organized on what was their first power play of the game and didn't get a shot on goal.
On 11 occasions during the regular season, the Blues were penalized for having too many men on the ice. It happened for the second time in the Edmonton bubble Sunday, and Vancouver's potent power play made them pay to snap a scoreless tie.
The penalty was really obvious, and it sure looked like Sammy Blais was the offender. It came just 35 seconds into the period and the Canucks needed just 34 seconds to take the lead. Hard to explain this one since the Blues were on the penalty kill. But somehow J.T. Miller got behind the defense for a breakaway and beat Jake Allen for the score.
But the Blues kept the pressure up on offense, getting a lot of net front traffic. They tied the game at 1-all at the 8:16 mark of the second, when Robert Thomas won a puck battle on the left wall, then sent a cross-ice pass to Justin Faulk, who caught the Vancouver defense napping by swooping in backdoor for a goal. It was his first of the postseason and his first since Feb. 25 of the regular season.
Most of the momentum belonged to the Blues, who were aggressive getting up the ice. It paid off when Ryan O'Reilly fed David Perron, steaming down left wing. Perron beat Markstrom from a tight angle and with just 1:58 left in the period, the Blues had a 2-1 lead _ their first lead of the series.
The lead didn't last for long. Marco Scandella and Colton Parayko played "I got it, you take it" on a loose puck in the back end. They bumped into each other allowing Elias Pettersson to swoop in for the puck and beat Allen for a game-tying goal at 2-2 with 1:21 left in the period.
For the first time in this series, the Blues held Vancouver off the scoreboard in a scoreless first period. The Canucks had scored at least one goal in all six periods in the first two games of the series, plus in overtime in Game 2.
Even though the Blues didn't get their first shot on goal until 8:38 had elapsed in the opening period, they ended up outshooting the Canucks 11-8 and had the better chances as well.
Jacob de la Rose, drawing into the fourth line Sunday, may have had the best look, but his rebound attempt from 9 feet out went high and missed the net with 5:18 left in the period.
