Buchnevich, Blues rally to defeat Kraken in OT for 4th straight win
Forward scores 2nd goal at 3:31 after tying it early in 3rd; Beniers returns for Seattle
By
Darren Brown
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
Buchnevich took a feed from Brayden Schenn and scored over Seattle goalie Joey Daccord’s glove to win it. He also scored the tying goal early in the third period and had an assist.
"[Schenn could] not give me a better pass,” Buchnevich said. “I’ve just got to hit the net. Lately, I've missed the net a lot, so good I hit the net right now."
Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist, and Oskar Sundqvist scored for the Blues (25-20-2), who had lost three in a row prior to their winning streak. Schenn had two assists, and Jordan Binnington made 33 saves.
"It was a roller coaster, obviously,” St. Louis interim coach Drew Bannister said. “I thought in the first period we played well. I thought we played some pretty good hockey, then we start the second period, got ourselves into some issues with ... whether it was turnovers, not being able to get pucks underneath.
“When we had opportunities to get guys off the ice, we get caught out on line changes or some long shifts in our D-zone. But in the third period, we came out quickly, started to forecheck a lot more."
Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and an assist, and Brian Dumoulin and Eeli Tolvanen each scored for the Kraken (20-18-10), who have lost five of their past six after a nine-game winning streak ended on Jan. 15. Daccord made 14 saves.
"It's a tough point to lose,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We played hard, we played a pretty good hockey game. We obviously would like to capitalize on one or two good opportunities that we had, and that can maybe change the game when it's a one- or a two-goal game."
Kraken forward Matty Beniers returned after missing five games with an upper-body injury sustained in a 7-4 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 13. He had no shots on goal and won seven of 12 face-offs in 15:37 of ice time.
"He's done all the work to be back in the lineup," Hakstol said. "He's worked very hard and taken all the necessary steps. If anything, we've taken an extra day or two, and that's what you do in these situations to make sure a player is ready to come back. I liked his game tonight."
Sundqvist gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 7:39 of the first period with a power-play goal, one-timing Schenn’s pass off a 2-on-1 rush into an open net.
Dumoulin tied it 1-1 at 10:16, using defenseman Colton Parayko as a screen and sending a snap shot from the left point off the post and in.
Bjorkstrand put Seattle ahead 2-1 at 3:55 of the second period on the power play. Off a 3-on-2 rush, Alex Wennberg passed into the slot to Bjorkstrand, who shot it past Binnington’s glove.
"The guys made a nice play, making it wide open for me there,” Bjorkstrand said, “so just had to not miss."
Tolvanen pushed it to 3-1 at 6:42 after Bjorsktrand stole the puck from Scott Perunovich and created a 2-on-0 for Yanni Gourde and Tolvanen. Gourde sent a return pass to Tolvanen, who scored over Binnington’s blocker from the bottom of the left circle.
"When [Bjorkstrand is] hunting the puck the way that he is, his stick becomes so effective,” Hakstol said. “If he's moving his feet on pucks ... I mean, I don't know how many strips he had tonight, but he had hit some big ones."
Thomas cut it to 3-2 at 15:01 on the power play, tipping a Perunovich point shot past Daccord.
"I was pretty much just standing there, and Scotty made a great shot and just put it off my stick,” Thomas said. “I didn't really move it much, so ... it was just a great play by him."
Buchnevich tied it 3-3 at 1:27 of the third period on a wrist shot off a pass from Thomas after winning a puck battle behind the net.
"I don't care [about my own points],” Buchnevich said. “We got the win, we got six points [on the road trip].”
Binnington stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third.
"At home or on the road, we just want to give ourselves a chance [to] win hockey games," Bannister said. "These are big points."
NOTES: Buchnevich became the seventh player in Blues history to score a tying goal in the third period and an overtime goal in the same game. The others were Jaden Schwartz (March 21, 2018, and Dec. 6, 2016), Vladimir Tarasenko (April 7, 2016, and Oct. 28, 2014), Chris Stewart (March 9, 2011), Bill Geurin (Dec. 23, 2006), Rod Brind’Amour (Jan. 31, 1991) and Rob Ramage (March 10, 1984). … Thomas had his 74th multipoint game in the NHL, which trails only Bernie Federko (103), Doug Gilmour (99) and Wayne Babych (75) for the most by a St. Louis player before age 25.
