St. Louis center matches season-best with four points; wins 78 percent of face-offs in 6-5 shootout win against Anaheim
There was a stretch of hockey recently where Robert Thomas wasn't himself.
The St. Louis Blues' No. 1 center went through a stretch of seven games from March 19-April 1 with just one assist and didn't look the part.
He has three assists on this road trip that completed on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks and appeared to be making more of his usual impact once again.
The Hockey News learned that Thomas had fallen ill and likely played a role in his slumping play, but the 24-year-old played through whatever was bothering him. He looked like his old self matching his season-best with four points (one goal, three assists), reached a personal career-high in points and became just the fourth Blue to reach 80 or more points since 2000 in a 6-5 shootout win on Sunday at Honda Center.
It's been a challenge for Thomas playing with different linemates, including Sunday when he was flanked by Brayden Schenn and Zack Bolduc.
But Thomas wasted little time in setting up Bolduc for his third NHL goal just 11 seconds into the game to pass his previous personal best of 77 points set in 2021-22. He would score his 24th goal of the season in the second period, a power-play goal, to give him 80 points and become just the fourth Blue to reach 80 points since 2000, joining Pavol Demitra, who had 93 points in 2002-03; Pierre Turgeon, who had 82 points in 2000-01; and Vladimir Tarasenko, who had 82 points in 2021-22.
It was Thomas' third four-point game this season; he had four assists in an 8-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 11, 2023, and a goal and three assists in a 7-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Feb. 11.
Thomas was impactful on both ends of the ice and had it not been for a couple unfortunate bad breaks, he could have had a couple more points in this game.
Thomas led the Blues with five shots on goal, was a plus-1 in 20:39 and won 21 of 27 face-offs in the game (78 percent).
