Blues beat Canucks in overtime, 4-3, to claim sole possession of wild-card spot

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Mar 20, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — The biggest game of the Blues' season delivered on the hype.

Tight-checking. Hard-hitting. Stress-inducing.

It ended with a 4-3 Blues overtime win over the Canucks on Thursday night at Enterprise Center.

Philip Broberg scored the game-winning goal for St. Louis with 1:18 remaining in overtime. Brock Boeser tied the game for Vancouver with 2.7 seconds remaining in the third period with a slap shot from the right wing.

In overtime, Justin Faulk rang a post and Jordan Kyrou's wraparound was barely saved by Kevin Lankinen's right pad, though it was reviewed and confirmed by officials as no goal.

Dylan Holloway's goal for St. Louis with 10:08 remaining in the third period was the second of two Blues goals in 24 seconds that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 St. Louis lead in the third. Holloway finished his rush up the ice with Kyrou on the back door, tapping in a feed that sent Enterprise Center into delirium.

The goal was on the next shift after Tyler Tucker's shot off a won faceoff tied the game at 2, and Tucker earned an assist on Holloway's goal with a shot block in his own end.

Boeser gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead 6:35 into the third period, as his shot in transition beat Jordan Binnington from distance and capitalized on a Robert Thomas turnover at the offensive blue line.

Zack Bolduc scored in the second period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead. Kiefer Sherwood's shot from the circle tied the game at 1 early in the third period after Brayden Schenn's attempted clear was collected by Filip Hronek at the blue line. Binnington was screened by teammate Nick Leddy on Sherwood's shot.

With the overtime win, the Blues are now in sole possession of the second wild-card spot in the West with 77 points with 12 games remaining. They jumped over Vancouver, who now has 76 points with 13 games remaining. Calgary beat New Jersey on Thursday night, giving them 75 points with 14 games remaining.

The Blues put themselves in the playoff hunt thanks to a 9-2-2 record since the 4 Nations break heading into Thursday night's game. That included a three-game win streak with blowout wins over Minnesota, Anaheim and Nashville in the last week.

The Blues will play their final back-to-back of the season this weekend against Chicago on Saturday and Nashville on Sunday.

Bolduc keeps going

Bolduc gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with 4:17 left in the second period, whirling a shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes' stick and past goaltender Kevin Lankinen. Mathieu Joseph was at the net-front battling for space with Tyler Myers, and provided a screen for Bolduc's shot.

The goal was Bolduc's seventh since coming back from the 4 Nations break, which leads all rookies in the NHL during that time. His late-season emergence has provided the Blues a scoring punch from the third line with Bolduc, Joseph and Oskar Sundqvist.

Bolduc's goal capped a second period in which the Canucks owned the first dozen minutes, generating plenty of zone time in the St. Louis end and outshooting the Blues, 8-2. But the Blues pushed back in the final eight minutes, using a 7-1 edge in shots to turn momentum and get on the board first.

At one point, Canucks defenseman Filip Hronek was on the ice for 3:02, as the Blues hemmed Vancouver in its own zone and forced multiple icing penalties. St. Louis couldn't capitalize on a tired Hronek, as a deflected puck gave him a much-needed rest.

Bolduc scored 48 seconds later on the very next shift.

Pushing the pace

Despite a goalless opening period, the Blues got off to a solid start in the first period by outplaying Vancouver and outshooting it, 12-3. St. Louis was clean in its exits from its own zone, preventing the Canucks from generating much of a forecheck and keeping Vancouver away from their goal line.

The plus-9 shot margin in the first period was the fourth-best mark for the Blues since the break.

In the first period alone, the Blues had 17 hits, and four of them were by Dylan Holloway.

Kyrou had the team's best chance to score when he cranked a one-timer off the post with less than 30 seconds remaining. The puck trickled off Lankinen's back and then squirted safely to the side of the net.