Thomas has 4 points, Blues recover to defeat Ducks in shootout

ANAHEIM -- Robert Thomas had a goal and three assists for the St. Louis Blues, who recovered for a 6-5 shootout victory against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.

Jordan Kyrou had three assists, Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Binnington made 33 saves for the Blues (41-32-5), who had lost two in a row, including 3-2 in overtime to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

St. Louis moved within five points of the Vegas Golden Knights, who have two games in hand, for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

"I was happy we stuck with it," St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. "We gave up two leads in that game, but at the end of the day, we get two points and we're happy with it."

Frank Vatrano and Leo Carlsson each scored twice, and Lukas Dostal made 26 saves for the Ducks (25-48-5), who have lost seven of eight (1-5-2). Trevor Zegras, Alex Killorn and Isac Lundestrom each had two assists.

"It was a great atmosphere, it was a great game, we just ended up on the wrong side of it," Vatrano said.

Zack Bolduc gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead just 11 seconds into the first period with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle on a rush.

"I felt like we just continued to build off that," Thomas said. "Starts are so important, especially for team games, and that was a big part of our win tonight."

Nikita Nesterenko scored his first goal of the season to tie it 1-1 at 2:37. He put in a rebound in front after Binnington saved Gustav Lindstrom’s slap shot from the right point.

"Gustav got a good shot off," Nesterenko said. "Kind of just spun off and found a loose puck. Got lucky enough to put it in the net."

Matthew Kessel scored his first NHL goal in his 37th game to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at 12:36. He took a centering pass from Thomas and beat Dostal with a wrist shot from the slot.

"It's taken a couple games, for sure, but it's great to get that one," Kessel said. "It was obviously a good little play in the neutral zone there, and then Schenn was able to drop it off to Thomas and gave it to me in the middle of the ice joining with a bunch of room, so I was pretty much just able to take it down and shoot it."

Vatrano tied it 2-2 at 3:41 of the second period when he stuffed in a loose puck in the crease.

Thomas put the Blues back in front 3-2 at 13:36 with a wrist shot from the right circle on a power play.

"’Boldy’ played excellent," Thomas said. "He was hard on pucks, he made a ton of plays and he really created a lot of space for me. Him and ‘Schenner’ did a great job of that, so a lot of credit should go to those two guys."

Pavel Buchnevich pushed it to 4-2 at 15:50 with a one-timer from the right circle off a feed from Kyrou on a rush.

Carlsson cut it to 4-3 on a power play at 1:01 of the third period, batting in the puck after Lundestrom’s one-timer from the slot deflected to him at the right post.

Schenn answered with a power-play goal to make it 5-3 at 2:40. He tapped in a cross-crease pass from Kyrou at the right post.

Vatrano cut it to 5-4 at 8:04 with a backhand in the slot before Carlsson tied it 5-5 at 16:09 with a wrist shot from the slot.

NOTES: The Blues swept the three-game season series against the Ducks for the second consecutive season. ... Thomas has 81 points (24 goals, 57 assists) this season, an NHL career high. He is the second St. Louis player to get at least 80 points in the past 20 years, joining Vladimir Tarasenko (82 in 2021-22).