Thomas scores with 9 seconds left in OT, Blues rally from 2 down late to defeat Oilers

ST. LOUIS – Robert Thomas scored with nine seconds remaining in overtime, and the St. Louis Blues rallied for a 3-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Thomas got the puck, curled to the inner edge of the left circle and scored top shelf with a wrist shot to complete the Blues' rally from a 2-0 deficit.

“Just tried to make a little move and get a shot off, and it was in a good spot,” Thomas said. “We’re obviously feeling good. We’re playing confident and we’re really using our strengths. Our ‘D’ are really skating, they’re joining the rush, they’re creating a lot. They’re beating the first forechecker in and that’s opening up all of us forwards. We’re just clicking right now and really confident, and coming in and winning every game.”

Cam Fowler had a goal and an assist, Pius Suter scored, and Joel Hofer made 36 saves for the Blues (27-29-10), who were coming off a 3-1 win at the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday and extended their point streak to seven games (6-0-1).

“It was fun. It wasn’t exactly the way that we drew it up, but I’m proud of our guys,” Fowler said. “We continue to fight against a really good team that needed the points and was desperate, and we just hung in there, got a couple goals and had a big shot by 'Tommer' there in overtime to seal the deal. Just an overall good effort by everyone staying in the game and staying in the fight.”

Connor McDavid and Kasperi Kapanen scored, and Connor Ingram made 22 saves for the Oilers (32-26-9), who lost 7-2 at the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

“I don’t think it could have went much better for us in the first 40 minutes and in the third with a nice lead,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “They got their goal, and we got a little nervous and backed in a little bit. Obviously, they had a strong push, and it’s unfortunate that it could have been an outstanding road trip getting three out of the four, but losing and only getting one point in the last two games is disappointing for us.”

After a scoreless first period, the Oilers were pressuring heavily in the second period, and Kapanen finally put Edmonton ahead 1-0 at 15:41 when he took Leon Draisaitl’s backhand pass out of the corner and beat Hofer with a wrist shot. Draisaitl's assist on the play extended his point streak to eight games (five goals, 11 assists).

McDavid made it 2-0 at 9:56 of the third period. He used his speed through the neutral zone to hem in Blues defenseman Theo Lindstein before scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot past Hofer's glove.

“They needed to obviously make a push going down 2-0,” Kapanen said of the Blues. “I don’t know, it’s really a shame that the whole game we were playing pretty well, and teams are going to have their push. We just need to learn how to play with a lead. We just hope that that one extra point that we lost today is not going to come back and haunt us later.”

Suter cut the deficit to 2-1 at 12:22 when he finished Jonatan Berggren's pass from behind the net to the low slot.

“What a play by Berggren on the Suter goal,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “I think that really gave us the momentum that we really could (win).”

Fowler tied it at 16:14 with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle after Oskar Sundqvist won an offensive zone face-off.

“I put ‘Sunny’ out for maybe a second face-off and he wins it clean, and we got it tied up,” Montgomery said. “Because we were struggling to win (face-offs), I just tried a different center to win face-offs.”

St. Louis went nearly an entire period of play without a shot on goal. Forward Dylan Holloway had the last shot of the first period at 13:15, and the Blues didn't get another until forward Jordan Kyrou put one on goal at 13:01 of the second period.

Edmonton seemed to have control of the puck at all times, and the Blues knew things needed to change.

“We didn’t touch the puck the whole second period it felt like,” Thomas said. “Maybe start with that, but we came out in the first, they had a couple rush chances early and then we felt like we started to get some good looks and some good time in the O-zone. So, we just had to get back to that. Even when they got up 2-0, that was our focus, and that was the way we were able to climb back into it."

NOTES: Thomas extended his personal point streak to nine games (six goals, eight assists). … The Oilers were playing without forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who returned to Edmonton for personal reasons. … McDavid needs two goals for 400 in his career. … The Oilers recalled forward Max Jones from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League to replace Nugent-Hopkins. He played 9:46 with two shots on goal and three hits. … Edmonton also placed forward Colton Dach (undisclosed) on long-term injured reserve. … Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard had his nine game point streak end (four goals, 12 assists).