The St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks squared off on Canadian Thanksgiving for both teams’ third game of the season. Both teams headed into this game 1-1-0, looking to get over .500. The Canucks were looking to bounce back after a bad performance against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, and the Blues wanted to continue their winning ways after a big win against the Calgary Flames. The stage was set for a fun hockey game.
Game Recap
The first period began with Vancouver creating most of the offensive opportunities, but the Canucks were unable to cash in on their chances. Their best chance was a shot by Tyler Myers that went off the post and out, keeping the score at 0-0. Near the halfway mark of the opening period, Elias Pettersson turned over the puck in the offensive zone to Blues defenceman Cam Fowler, and he brought the puck up the ice into the Vancouver zone.
After some passing in the Canucks end, the puck landed on Jimmy Snuggerud’s stick in the slot, and he sniped a shot past Kevin Lankinen for a 1-0 Blues lead. Both teams tried to get another goal before the end of the period, but the first frame ended with the Blues keeping their 1-0 lead.
St. Louis Blues forward Jimmy Snuggerud celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks (Bob Frid-Imagn Images)
Near the start of the second period, the Blues struck again with a goal from their captain. A Canucks turnover sprung Jordan Kyrou on a partial breakaway that he was unable to shoot on. But he kept control of the puck and found an open Brayden Schenn, and he wired the puck into the top corner to give the Blues a 2-0 lead. Shortly after St. Louis extended their lead, Vancouver was able to get on the board with a hard-working play in front of the net that saw Aatu Raty send the puck to Kiefer Sherwood, and the forward backhanded it past Jordan Binnington, bringing Vancouver to within one goal.
Near the midway point of the second period, Elias Pettersson took a hooking penalty that sent the Blues to the power play. On the advantage, the Blues rang the puck around the boards, and it bounced off of Tyler Myers and right onto the stick of Pavel Buchnevich and after jamming away at the side, it squirted out to a wide-open Snuggerud, and he capitalized on the chance for his second of the night and gave the Blues a 3-1 lead. Shortly after giving up the third goal, Vancouver took another penalty.
But the Canucks flipped the script and were able to spring Sherwood on a breakaway, and he put a nice move on Jordan Binnington to score and bring Vancouver back to within one. But Vancouver got in their own way once again after the St. Louis power play finished. Quinn Hughes pinched below the Blues’ net to try and get another goal, which ended up springing a 3-on-1 for St. Louis. Alex Texier sent a perfect pass over to Nathan Walker, and he made no mistake on the play to give the Blues a 4-2 lead. After a crazy second period, Walker’s goal was the last of the frame, and both teams went into the intermission with the Blues up 4-2.
In the final period, the Canucks needed to score to keep themselves alive in this game. Vancouver came close on several occasions in the period, but they were unable to do so. The Blues added an empty net goal from the other end of the ice to seal a 5-2 victory and earn their second win of the season. Vancouver will now head to Dallas on Thursday for a game against the Stars, and the Blues will look to continue their winning ways on Wednesday as they take on the Blackhawks.
