Holloway scores in OT, Blues recover to defeat Canucks

VANCOUVER -- Dylan Holloway scored 1:40 into overtime to help the St. Louis Blues recover for a 4-3 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

He took a pass from Robert Thomas as he entered the offensive zone, kept it on a 2-on-1 rush, and went backhand to forehand before lifting a shot over goalie Thatcher Demko’s left shoulder from in tight.

“It's never a bad play to take the puck to the net,” said Holloway, who also had an assist. “I saw they were on a change, so I knew I could beat the guy flat footed there and going to the net. I think their [defenseman] thought I was going to pass it, and I think the goalie thought I was going to pass it too, and at first I thought I was going pass it as well. But then when you are in tight, just try to get it up.”

The goal came after Jake DeBrusk scored for Vancouver to tie it 3-3 with 1:52 left in the third period. With Demko on the bench for an extra attacker, DeBrusk chipped in Elias Pettersson’s backhand pass from below the goal line.

"Good comeback,” Pettersson said. “We finally got the goal, got a point, but obviously we wanted to have the two points.”

Thomas had a goal and two assists, and Joel Hofer made 22 saves for the Blues (14-13-2), who lost 4-2 at the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday but improved to 5-1-1 since hiring Jim Montgomery on Nov. 25.

“We played a real good game, maybe our best complete game of the year,” Montgomery said. “I thought Vancouver played well, and it's nice to beat a playoff team when they're playing well, and we were able to overcome some adversity in the game, momentum swings and pull it out in the end.”

St. Louis finished 3-1-0 on a four-game road trip that started Dec. 3.

“Confidence in making plays,” Thomas said when asked what has changed. “Some of our young guys have taken big steps. [Holloway] and [Zack] Bolduc have been playing lights out the last six, seven games, and they've been leading the way for scoring depth and our whole lineup is just clicking right now.”

Pettersson and Conor Garland each had a goal and assist for Vancouver (14-8-5), which has lost three of four (1-1-2). Demko made 21 saves in his first start of the season after sustaining a knee injury in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round against the Nashville Predators on April 21.

“Felt rusty, for sure,” Demko said. “Obviously, it's frustrating losing. I thought I could have played a couple of goals differently. I'm sure that there's stuff that I can pull to keep building but obviously it's frustrating right now.”

Dakota Joshua put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 8:02 of the first period by driving to the net on a 2-on-1 and putting in a backdoor pass from Garland. It was his first goal in his 13th game of the season after missing the opening 14 while recovering from testicular cancer.

“It’s nice to get on the board,” Joshua said. “Obviously, I know that I need to be better, and it was nice to have a better effort.”

Bolduc tied it 1-1 at 9:15. Holloway intercepted a Demko pass from behind his net along the left boards and found Bolduc at the top of the left circle for a one-timer that beat the Canucks goalie through a screen.

Holloway has 11 points (six goals, five assists) on an NHL career-best seven-game point streak that coincides with Montgomery taking over.

“He just kept winning battles, skating around people, creating offense and killing plays defensively that led to transition offensively,” Montgomery said of Holloway. “He's been a pleasant surprise. I think he is the best example of how lucky I am to be the head coach of St. Louis Blues, because the whole team has surprised me with their willingness to grow, their willingness to get better, willingness to compete. It's exciting about what we can become."

Thomas put the Blues ahead 2-1 at 17:30 on a short-handed breakaway. The puck bounced over Garland’s stick at the St. Louis blue line, and Thomas latched onto it as it rolled into the zone before firing a wrist shot over Demko’s blocker from the right hash marks.

“When I came down, I just kind of saw his blocker dropping, and I thought he was going to do that one-leg down and kind of take away the short side and as soon as I saw that hand start to move, I knew I was going up top,” Thomas said.

Kyrou pushed it to 3-1 at 16:18 of the second period with a power-play goal, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Thomas in the left circle.

Pettersson answered on the power play to pull Vancouver within 3-2 at 18:32 when his backdoor pass was deflected in by Blues defenseman Colton Parayko.

Demko stopped Holloway on a 2-on-0 at 1:28 of the third period, stretching out with his left pad after the Blues forward took a right-to-left pass from Oskar Sundqvist and cut back across the top of the crease.

“I've talked about managing expectations and not putting too much weight on that first game back, but obviously as the moment builds, you're excited to play and you want to perform,” Demko said.

NOTES: St. Louis forward Radek Faksa left the game after getting cut by a skate at 14:04 of the third period, but Montgomery said, “He’s doing all right … he took some stitches, but thankfully, no damage.” … The Blues are 8-1-1 in their past 10 games against Vancouver and 5-1-0 in their past six trips to Vancouver. … Thomas has nine points (three goals, six assists) on a four-game point streak and 14 points (five goals, nine assists) in 11 games since returning from injury on Nov. 19. … Canucks defenseman Mark Friedman played 14:49 in his season debut after taking Erik Brannstrom’s spot in the lineup.