Goaltending key again for Blues, who have won five of six but still remain four points behind Vegas for second wild card from Western Conference
As the season progresses and games dwindle, the St. Louis Blues are almost in a situation where they simply continue to need to win and bag points.
Thursday was no exception starting a short two-game road trip against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre, a game in which the Blues had to have and had a chance to apply some pressure on the Vegas Golden Knights for the second wild card into the Western Conference.
It started with Joel Hofer's 37-save performance, followed by multi-point games from Jordan Kyrou (one goal, two assists), Jake Neighbours (two goals) and Brandon Saad (one goal, one assist) as the Blues did their part with a 5-2 win against the Senators, who are just playing out the string on the season.
One common theme from the game for the Blues (37-30-3), who have won five of six, is the goaltending, and Hofer improved to 3-0-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average and .952 save percentage in his past three starts.
He and fellow goalie Jordan Binnington continue to be the backbone for the Blues' playoff push, which for a few hours put the pressure on the Golden Knights and pulled within two points until Vegas scored late to defeat the Seattle Kraken, 3-1.
The Blues mixed up their lineup a bit on Thursday besides putting Hofer between the pipes, defenseman Marco Scandella played his first game since March 9 against the New York Rangers with Torey Krug missing his first game this season with a lower-body injury, and forward Zach Dean, the 30th pick in the 2021 NHL Draft by the Golden Knights before being traded to the Blues on Feb. 27, 2023 for Ivan Barbashev, made his NHL debut just on the other side of the Ottawa River where he played his junior hockey for the Gatineau Olympiques.
Let's dive into the key points from the Canadian capital:
* Blues were playing dangerously -- It was another one of those starts for the Blues that dictated who they were playing and where they were in the standings.
It was a team below them in the standings, albeit a dangerous one with some solid weapons but shoddy goaltending, but the unlike Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche in which the Blues played pretty well in a 4-3 loss, they were playing too loose in their own zone early and the Senators seemed ready to pounce.
* One save leads to a goal -- Joel Hofer tossed his name into the ring that things were going to be just fine despite the looseness in front of him. His save on Tim Stutzle cutting in past Colton Parayko at 11:32 set up the opening goal.
Hofer was up to the task a number of times early before Saad's 21st of the season at 11:54 made it 1-0, a goal scored off a rebound, where the Blues knew they could make their living.
* Joining the rush critical -- The lead was doubled but it was anything but a walk in the park for the Blues, who needed Hofer to be special, including making consecutive saves on Jakob Chychrun at 12:48, then another acrobatic stop at 12:51.
Getting in and around Forsberg was going to be key, and Colton Parayko joined in on the fun when he made it 2-0 at 14:47 of the first when Kyrou found the big man at 6-foot-6, coming down the slot uncontested to tie his career-high 10th (also matched in 2018-19 and 2019-20).
The Blues got out of the opening period ahead 2-0 despite getting outshot 12-7.
* Another costly mistake -- The Blues were their own worst enemy on Tuesday with costly mistakes Colorado took advantage of, and the Senators took advantage of a puck mistake when Nick Leddy's cross ice pass into the neutral zone was behind Neighbours and Mark Kastelic made it 2-1 at 4:34.
It was a backdoor pass from Mathieu Joseph that Hofer had no chance on Kastelic's goal.
* Regaining momentum -- When the Senators would claw within one, the Blues had an answer each time and it was important.
Kastelic's goal re-energized the Senators, but living around the blue paint was good advice for the Blues, who had Neighbours restore their lead to 3-1 at 13:11.
There was another goalmouth scramble that Neighbours won living in the right areas.
* Hofer holding down fort -- And it was big because another Hofer key save came off native St. Louisan Brady Tkachuk, who like Neighbours lives around the net but wanted to break his stick over his head at 16:40 of the second with Zack Bolduc on the box for tripping.
* Bad penalty -- Kyrou committed a costly penalty on Tuesday that cost the Blues a goal, and Neighbours committed one too when he hooked Tkachuk just 19 seconds into the third of a two-goal game.
The Senators capitalized and made things interesting when Dominik Kubalik tapped in a rebound at 1:58 to make it 3-2 and really make things interesting.
Hofer was an acrobat leading up to the goal making four saves trying to get the kill but couldn't make a fifth.
* Another answer -- But for the second time in the game, the Blues had an answer on Kyrou's goal and a 4-2 lead at 5:43 on a spin and shot from the slot bar down past Forsberg.
Alexey Toropchenko took a pass into the zone on the left and put the puck into the slot, and Kyrou recovered it before beating the Senators goalie.
* Manage the game, put an end to it -- Leading by two, the Blues managed the game the right way, Hofer kept making saves, and they iced it with Neighbours scoring his 24th into the empty net at 18:32.
It was a must-game for the Blues and they had to have it. They got it and now move onto Minnesota for a pivotal game Saturday.
