SEATTLE — The St. Louis Blues pulled off a two-goal rally for the second time in three games and continued to climb their way back into the playoff conversation in the Western Conference.
Pavel Buchnevich scored his second goal of the game 3:31 into overtime and the Blues beat the Seattle Kraken 4-3 on Friday night.
St. Louis, which trailed 3-1 in the second period, won its fourth straight game and picked up two points in the crowded race for one of the Western Conference’s wild-card spots.
And they completed an impressive three-game road trip, rallying from a two-goal deficit to beat Calgary, topping Vancouver in overtime and finishing the trip with a comeback win in Seattle. All three games finished 4-3.
“We’re committed more to the standards that we’re asking for our guys and we’re starting to see that, and I think that has to do with resiliency,” interim St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “But I think guys are just more focused on what they can control right now and the things that we can’t control aren’t a distraction.”
Buchnevich scored his 15th goal of the season 1:27 into the third period to pull the Blues even at 3, beating Joey Daccord to the glove side off a feed from Robert Thomas.
PHOTOS: Pavel Buchnevich scores twice and Blues rally for 4-3 overtime win over Kraken
St. Louis controlled the puck and had the better chances early in overtime and Buchnevich brought a perfect end to the Blues’ road trip by beating Daccord off a feed from Brayden Schenn.
Buchnevich finished with three points.
“He could not give me (a) better pass,” Buchnevich said. “I just got to hit the net lately. I miss the net a lot, so it’s good I hit the net right now.”
St. Louis (52 points) moved within one point of both Nashville and Los Angeles in the wild-card race, while Seattle (50 points) moved three points back. Both the Kraken and Blues have two games remaining before the All-Star break.
Thomas scored his 17th goal on a power play late in the second period that turned the momentum for St. Louis after Seattle had controlled most of the period. Oskar Sundqvist also scored on the power play 7:39 into the first period for St. Louis.
Jordan Binnington made 33 saves for the Blues.
Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and an assist for Seattle, but the Kraken lost for the fifth time in six games. Eeli Tolvanen and Brian Dumoulin also scored for the Kraken.
“It’s probably a game I think we probably should win. I thought we played good enough,” Bjorkstrand said. “Unfortunately, they found a way to tie it and from there we couldn’t really get that last goal.”
Bjorkstrand’s power-play goal 3:55 into the second period came moments after Daccord stopped a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush by the Blues. The save led to a breakout for Seattle and eventually Bjorkstrand’s sixth power-play goal of the season.
Bjorkstrand was also the reason for Tolvanen’s goal less than three minutes later. Bjorkstrand’s backcheck on Scott Perunovich led to a steal and Tolvanen eventually finished the play off a pass from Yanni Gourde.
But Seattle lamented the missed chances that could have given them a fourth goal. None was bigger than Jaden Schwartz missing an open net late in second period that would have given Seattle a 4-2 lead.
Daccord made 14 saves for the Kraken.
“It’s a tough point to lose. We played hard. We played a pretty good hockey game,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said.
UP NEXT
Blues: Return home to face Los Angeles on Sunday.
Kraken: Close out their homestand against Columbus on Sunday.
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