Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and an assist for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-1 win against the host Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Pius Suter and Jordan Kyrou also scored for the Blues (28-30-11, 67 points), who snapped a two-game skid and pulled within six points of the second and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Jordan Binnington made 14 saves.
Filip Hronek scored and Kevin Lankinen made 18 saves for the Canucks (21-40-8, 50 points), who are 13 points behind the rest of the league.
It was a quiet first period between the two, with minimal chances and St. Louis edging Vancouver 5-4 in shots on goal. The Canucks didn’t register their first shot on goal until nearly six minutes into the frame.
The second period started off slow for both sides, with no shots on goal through the first six minutes before Vancouver notched a pair. The Blues got their first of the frame moments later and then started to pick up the pace and control the play.
Suter gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 10:17 of the middle period. Robert Thomas took a feed from Dylan Holloway in the slot but was denied by Lankinen. The rebound bounced out in front and Suter got a piece of the rolling puck, which then hit him as he slid toward the net with the puck rolling past Lankinen.
Buchnevich made it 2-0 just 79 seconds later. Philip Broberg found him uncovered at the top of the right circle and fed Buchnevich a no-look pass for a one-timer that beat the outstretched glove of Lankinen.
The Blues thought they had a 3-0 lead off a Holloway tally with just under four minutes remaining in the period, but Vancouver challenged for a missed stoppage. The goal was overturned after video review showed Jimmy Snuggerud had knocked the puck down with a high stick four seconds earlier.
Hronek cut it to 2-1 on the power play at 8:32 of the third period, firing a snap shot from the middle of the blue line that deflected off Logan Mailloux’s stick past Binnington’s glove.
Kyrou scored an empty-net goal on the power play with 48 seconds left to close out the scoring.
–Field Level Media
