Blues get 2 quick goals in 2nd, defeat Canucks to end 2-game skid

VANCOUVER -- Pius Suter and Pavel Buchnevich scored 1:19 apart in the second period, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Jordan Kyrou scored, and Buchnevich also had an assist for the Blues (28-30-11), who had lost two straight (0-1-1) to start a three-game road trip, but have points in nine of their past 10 games (7-1-2).

Logan Mailloux had two assists, and Jordan Binnington made 14 save for St. Louis, which is six points back of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

“We're trying to play to our identity,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “In the first two periods, we did that. We won a lot of puck battles, we were able to spend a lot of time in the O-zone, and we feel if we continue to play to that identity, our team confidence and growth is going to expand.”

Filip Hronek scored the lone goal for the Canucks (21-40-8), who have lost two in a row and 12 of their past 15 (3-9-3). Kevin Lankinen made 18 saves.

“We were really disconnected first and second period. In the third period, we were skating, winning battles, everything opens then,” Vancouver forward Marco Rossi said. “We have to stay positive, learn from that, and it's got to be a full 60 [minutes] and not, you know, 20 minutes or 30.”

Jimmy Snuggerud appeared to put St. Louis up 1-0 at 6:36 of the second period, but the goal was immediately waved off because Blues forward Dylan Holloway made contact with Lankinen shortly before Snuggerud scored.

Suter did give St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 10:17. Lankinen robbed Robert Thomas alone at the top of the crease and got his pad on the first rebound attempt by Suter, but the puck bounced in off Suter's left leg as he slid towards the net on his knees. 

Snuggerud's decision to go to the bench for a line change aided in the opening goal because it was Suter who replaced him on the next shift. 

“A good example of being unselfish and playing for each other,” Montgomery said. “Jimmy Snuggerud had a real unselfish change in the offensive zone. [Suter] replaces him, [Dylan Holloway] and [Thomas] make a real nice play, [Suter] goes hard to the net, and he's fresh and gets that bounce.”

Buchnevich made it 2-0 just 1:19 later at 11:36 when he buried a cross-ice pass from Philip Broberg with a one-timer from the top of the right face-off circle past a diving Lankinen.

“I was trying to attack the net and he got open and just trying to find him,” Broberg said.

Vancouver challenged a goal by Holloway at 16:06 for a missed stoppage in play, and video review determined that Snuggerud had played the puck with a high stick, negating the goal.

“Could have easily have been 4-0,” Montgomery said. “And then in the third period we took our foot off the gas.”

Hronek cut the deficit to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 8:32 of the third period. His wrist shot from the blue line deflected off the stick of Mailloux under Binnington's glove from just above the crease.

"We have to put more pucks on net and try to create chaos," Hronek said.

Kyrou scored an empty-net goal off a pass from Buchnevich while on the power play at 19:12 to secure the 3-1 final. Buchnevich's assist was his 500th NHL point (198 goals, 302 assists). 

“We had a good first two periods and the third period wasn't perfect,” Binnington said. “We did find a way to win and in the end find a way to get that empty-net goal. But our focus is getting better and better, and I think for the majority of the game today, we did that.”

The Canucks have been held to two goals or less in five of their past seven games.

"I think we play too cute,” Rossi said. “We play too much on the outside and we're not going enough to the inside, the dirty areas. I think that's missing in our game."

NOTES: The Blues recorded their fourth straight road win against the Canucks dating to Jan. 24, 2024, their second-longest active run versus one opponent (six games vs. Anaheim). ... Montgomery announced before the game that defenseman Tyler Tucker is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained in a 2-1 shootout loss at the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. … Thomas has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past 10 games since returning March 1 from an injury that kept him out 13 games. ... Rossi extended his point streak to five games (three goals, eight assists). … Vancouver is 8-23-5 at Rogers Arena, a new team record for regulation losses at home with five home games left this season.