VANCOUVER, British Columbia — As Elias Pettersson laid in the Canucks crease during overtime Wednesday night, the puck delivered sweet justice for the Blues.
In a 4-3 overtime win over the Canucks, Blues captain Brayden Schenn scored the game-winning goal 1:54 into the extra frame, but not without a smidge of controversy and, perhaps, a touch of hockey karma.
Moments before Schenn whizzed a shot past Casey DeSmith to lift the Blues to their third straight win, he shoved Pettersson from behind. Pettersson collapsed in the crease momentarily and, when Schenn ended the game, pleaded to the nearest official he could find for a cross-checking penalty.
“Pushed off him,†Schenn said. “Whether it was a cross-check, it is what it is. I feel like I didn’t push him that hard. Maybe could have been a penalty, could have went either way.â€
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Schenn’s goal made up for his disallowed goal in the second period that would have given the Blues a 3-0 lead. It was called off when Jake Neighbours was whistled for cross-checking Ian Cole at the Vancouver net-front.
Neighbours said “I didn’t think it was too egregious of a motion, I didn’t think I cross-checked him hard.†Bannister reiterated that “It’s a push on the back. That’s the way I saw it. I saw some guys falling pretty easy out there.â€
“When I scored on the first one, I didn’t think that one was,†Schenn said. “I haven’t even seen the replay yet, but maybe that one could have been. There were some cross-checks going on. Those are two solid refs that have been around the league for a long time.â€
Buoyed by goals from Schenn, Neighbours, Alexey Toropchenko and Pavel Buchnevich, the Blues overcame Pius Suter’s hat trick for Vancouver. Suter’s third goal of the evening came in the final minute of the third period as Vancouver peppered Joel Hofer with an extra attacker.
After the game, Hofer joked that he “just wanted to make it interesting. I know fans were pretty happy about it, so yeah, it all worked out in the end.â€
Hofer made 29 saves, including massive ones in the third period on Ilya Mikheyev and Teddy Blueger and another in overtime on Filip Hronek.
“I was seeing the puck well,†Hofer said. “It was a fun game to be a part of. Just happy I could help the team win. It was a good night.â€
The victory meant the Blues ascended four games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2021-22 season. They never reached that mark last season and failed in their first nine attempts to do so this season. Since they finished with 109 points two seasons ago, the Blues were 0-11-1 when they had a chance to move four games over .500.
Is there any significance to that figure?
“I never really thought of it like that,†Schenn said. “You just keep on working. We’re not going to be a team that’s satisfied with four games over .500. Just keep on digging in here, keep on pushing.â€
The Blues improved to 11-6-1 under Bannister, and also put themselves into the last Wild Card spot in the Western Conference, at least by points percentage. While Nashville has 51 points in 47 games (.5426), ºüÀêÊÓƵ has 50 points in 46 games (.5435) to squeeze just ahead of the Predators by points percentage.
“We’re playing good hockey right now, for the most part,†Neighbours said. “We’re building our game and you can see we’re really starting to come together as a team and play for each other and support each other. It’s really fun to see and fun to be a part of. Just got to keep it going.â€
Neighbours keyed the Blues early on, scoring a goal and assisting on Buchnevich’s goal to give the Blues a 2-0 lead at the first intermission. Neighbours slapped home a Robert Thomas pass from the slot with 6:46 remaining in the first period, and then slid over a cross-crease pass to Buchnevich on the power play less than two minutes later.
It was Neighbours’ first NHL game with a goal and a primary assist.
Suter cut the lead to 2-1 in the first minute of the third period, and then Toropchenko responded 41 seconds later by finishing a pass from Kevin Hayes at the net-front. Suter again trimmed the lead to one goal — this time a 3-2 Blues lead — when he took advantage of Hofer’s misplay of the puck at the side of the net.
“Yeah, I don’t know what I was really doing there,†Hofer said. “I thought our guy was pretty close to me. It is what it is. I’ll learn from it. I’m not going to stop handling the puck because of it. I’ll just learn from it and move on.â€
Suter tied the game with 52 seconds left to earn the Canucks a point, even if the hats did not rain down from Rogers Arena until the goal was announced at the end of regulation.
Then Schenn — and maybe the hockey gods — rebounded in overtime.
“It’s a heck of a win from our guys,†Bannister said. “We showed a lot of character tonight.â€