Thomas ties game late, Blues recover to defeat Blackhawks in shootout

ST. LOUIS -- Radek Faksa scored in the 10th round of the shootout, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-5 at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

It was Faksa’s first shootout goal in three attempts.

“There weren’t many forwards left and I knew my name would be coming up,” Faksa said. “I kind of heard [Blues coach Jim Montgomery and assistant Steve Ott] kind of talking about me. I kind of knew if Chicago wouldn’t score, I will be next. I was already planning my move.”

Robert Thomas, Mathieu Joseph and Philip Broberg each had a goal and an assist for the Blues (25-26-5), who had lost two straight (0-1-1). Jordan Binnington, who will represent Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20, made 15 saves.

“Poor first, really good second and lapses in the third,” Montgomery said. “But we also showed a good response in the third to be able to keep coming back.

“It was a comeback win. Hopefully we learn the right way to play because a lot of the game we played the right way, and when we didn’t, especially in the first, we looked really disjointed. Hopefully we can enjoy the break and come back, have several good practices before we get back into games.”

Ilya Mikheyev had a goal and two assists, and Alec Martinez and Teuvo Teravainen each had a goal and an assist for the Blackhawks (17-31-7), who defeated the Nashville Predators 6-2 on Friday. Arvid Soderblom made 35 saves.

“That was a little crazy,” said Teravainen, who will represent Finland at the 4 Nations. “I feel like the second period’s again kind of killing us. These are the kinds of games we just have to find a way to win. I feel like we had them, and then we didn’t, and then we had them again. Just crazy.”

The two teams met for the first time since St. Louis defeated Chicago 6-2 in the 2025 Discover Winter Classic at Wrigley Field on Dec. 31.

Craig Smith and Ryan Donato scored 38 seconds apart in the first period to give the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead.

Smith took a cross-slot pass from Patrick Maroon and scored with a snap shot from the right circle to make it 1-0 at 5:04, then Donato made it 2-0 at 5:42 when he intercepted Colton Parayko’s clearing attempt and played a give-and-go with Connor Bedard before beating Binnington with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.

“The first, we came out cleaner,” Chicago coach Anders Sorensen said. “We were on the forecheck a little bit. That was the biggest thing I noticed.”

The Blues answered with three goals in the second period to take the lead.

Broberg cut it to 2-1 at 1:40 with a wrist shot from the left point that went in off Soderblom’s glove, and Nathan Walker tied it 2-2 just 10 seconds later when he intercepted an Ethan Del Mastro pass and scored from the high slot.

Joseph gave the Blues their first lead when he finished at the top of the crease off Brayden Schenn's pass from behind the net to make it 3-2 at 17:09.

“I just felt like we gave too many odd-man rushes, especially with a team on back-to-back,” Schenn said. “You’ve got to play to the goal line, and we got to that in the second period.”

Martinez tied it 3-3 at 3:50 of the third period on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Teravainen.

Cam Fowler responded to put the Blues back in front when his shot from the left point deflected in off Blackhawks defenseman Seth Jones to make it 4-3 at 4:32.

Teravainen's one-timer from the right circle deflected in off Blues defenseman Ryan Suter to tie it 4-4 at 6:08.

Mikheyev raced into the offensive zone around Blues defenseman Justin Faulk before tucking a backhand through Binnington’s pads to give Chicago a 5-4 lead at 11:08.

Thomas tied it 5-5 at 15:23 when he jammed in Broberg's shot after Soderblom thought he had the puck covered.

“That one felt good,” Thomas said. “I didn’t see it until I was kind of getting into the crease. Sometimes you get lucky and it was a much-needed break for me.”

NOTES: Suter became the 22nd player in NHL history to play 1,500 games. He is the third American-born player to do so, joining Chris Chelios (1,651) and Matt Cullen (1,516).