Special teams goals by Robert Thomas and Ryan O’Reilly cued a comeback for the St. Louis Blues, who claimed a 4-3 road victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.
Nick Leddy and Nathan Walker also scored for the Blues, who claimed both halves of a home-and-home series with the Canucks and now boast a 13-3-2 mark against Vancouver in the past 18 regular-season meetings. St. Louis’ David Perron had two assists, O’Reilly also had a two-point night and Ville Husso made 22 saves.
Elias Pettersson scored twice and Alex Chiasson tallied once for the Canucks, who are 2-4-2 in their past eight games. Thatcher Demko stopped 20 shots.
With the Canucks holding a 2-1 edge, Thomas netted a short-handed goal at 15:29 of the second period. He stole the puck at his own blue line and lifted a forehand shot on the ensuing breakaway.
O’Reilly put the visitors ahead less than two minutes later when he finished a three-way passing play by nailing a shot from the slot for the power-play goal.
Walker collected the eventual game-winner just before the midway point of the third period. His original shot was blocked, but Walker grabbed the loose puck in the slot and buried his second attempt.
Pettersson gave the Canucks life when he scored his 22nd of the season with 4:49 remaining in regulation to make it a one-goal game, but the Canucks couldn’t find the equalizer.
It was a disappointing turn of events for Vancouver.
After the Canucks hit the post three times in the first period, Chiasson opened the scoring 31 seconds into the middle frame when he received a pass while in the slot and made the most of the chance.
Leddy put the Blues on the board at 7:26 of the middle frame when he unloaded a point shot that found the mark. Pettersson put the Canucks ahead 2-1 just past the midway point of the game when his team took advantage of a turnover and he ended up with a perfect chance from the slot.
The Canucks were without captain Bo Horvat for the final two periods. The team reported he left due to non-COVID illness.
–Field Level Media