Thomas scores in 3rd straight, Blues defeat Canucks

ST. LOUIS -- Robert Thomas scored in his third straight game and had an assist for the St. Louis Blues in a 2-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Thomas, who was named to play in the 2024 NHL All-Star Game prior to puck drop, gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead at 8:03 of the third period when he scored from the inner edge of the right circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Scott Perunovich, who came off the bench on a line change.

"Good play by a lot of people," Thomas said. "[Pavel Buchnevich] makes a great pass over to Scotty. He threw off their whole team. [Jordan Kyrou] drives by the net, goalie can't see it and he overslides, and I just found it over the blocker. A lot of guys did a lot of good things for that goal."

Colton Parayko scored, and Jordan Binnington made 25 saves for the Blues (19-17-1), who had lost two straight.

"I think we played really solid game defensively," Buchnevich said. "I think since second period, we take over the game and play a really good game, don't give up many chances and got the 'W.'"

Conor Garland scored, and Thatcher Demko made 30 saves for the Canucks (24-11-3), who were 8-1-2 in their previous 11 games.

"I thought we missed a glorious chance in the third," Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. "We have four or five missed nets. We’ve got to hit the net on those shots.

"[St. Louis was] good through the neutral zone. I thought they hit the weak side a lot. But for the most part, like I said, we had our looks, we just need some guys to bear down on their shots."

Garland gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 1:57 of the first period on a one-timer from the high slot after taking Teddy Blueger's pass from the right corner.

"We give up one goal, it's not a big deal, we keep playing and keep playing our way," Buchnevich said.

Parayko tied it 1-1 at 4:22 of the second period after taking a pass from Thomas and beating Demko with a wrist shot from the right circle.

"I'm just trying to find spots in the [offensive] zone and find holes that I can kind of jump into," Parayko said. "I think the forwards have done a great job of kind of finding us [defensemen]. It's been good, I guess, that way."

Brock Boeser, Nils Hoglander and Elias Pettersson all had high-danger chances for Vancouver in the third period prior to Thomas putting St. Louis ahead.

"Obviously disappointed, 1-1 going into the third, you want to find a way to get points out of that," Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said. “But we had some hard looks, just didn't capitalize and execute a little bit better."

NOTES: Thomas earned his first NHL All-Star selection; Hughes earned his second. … Thomas has nine points (four goals, five assists) over his past six games. ... Hughes had a five-game point streak (one goal, six assists) end. ... Parayko played his 614th NHL game to tie Barclay Plager for fourth place among Blues defensemen for games played in their history. ... Blueger has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) the past nine games. ... Perunovich has five assists in his past five games.