When the second-period buzzer sounded on Tuesday night, the St. Louis Blues were facing a two-goal deficit and a steep uphill battle to retake momentum from a pressuring Calgary Flames' offense.
Just a couple of minutes into the third period, Nikita Alexandrov - tallying his fourth career NHL point - skated hard to the net to score, and Jordan Kyrou followed him up 28 seconds later to tie the game.
After a Robert Thomas goal was waved off for offsides, the Blues and Flames held even through to the regulation buzzer. Not much extra time was needed, however, as Thomas - wearing an 'A' on his sweater in Vladimir Tarasenko's place - buried a one-timer from Kyrou less than 30 seconds into overtime to win the game.
"We kind of looked at each other going up the ice and I had a pretty good idea of what (Kyrou) was planning to do," said Thomas. "Great play by him - I just had to get it upstairs."
"Skate, skate, stop. Pass. One-timer goal. Pretty simple," joked Pavel Buchnevich about the game-winning play.
Calgary saw goals from Milan Lucic, Mikael Backlund and Andrew Mangiapane, though were unable to add any after the first minute of the second period as the Blues' defensive execution dialed up. They move to 3-9 in overtime periods and shootouts this season, one of four teams in the NHL with 12 overtime games and the only team with nine such losses.
The Flames now possess a record of 19-14-9, worth 47 points and the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference.
The Blues - still without several key veterans but seeing some positive results from their young depth - will try to keep their momentum going, hosting a quick rematch on Thursday night at Enterprise Center. The Blues will be seeking a season series sweep after taking the first two games against Calgary this year.
Tuesday's win put the Blues at a record of 21-18-3 on the season, worth 45 points and fourth place in the Central Division as of Wednesday afternoon. Now even in points with Edmonton for the second Wild Card playoff spot, the Blues are putting themselves back in the hunt for the postseason.
