Schenn, Allen save St. Louis Blues from brink of elimination in OT Thriller

The St. Louis Blues won Game 3 to avoid falling down 3-0 to the Vancouver Canucks thanks to heroic efforts from Jake Allen and Brayden Schenn.

St. Louis Blues forward Brayden Schenn‘s breakaway goal at 15:06 of overtime won Game 3 for the Blues over the Vancouver Canucks by a final score of 3-2. St. Louis cuts into Vancouver’s lead this first round best of seven series 2 games to 1.

Blues forward Ryan O’Reilly broke up a play deep in the Canucks zone and hit a wide-open Schenn with an outlet pass at center ice. Schenn charged in on the breakaway and beat Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom high glove-side to save the Blues from the brink of elimination. O’Reilly and Carl Gunnarsson assisted on the goal.

Blues goaltender Jake Allen got the start in net over incumbent starter Jordan Binnington. Binnington won the Stanley Cup as the starting goaltender for the Blues last season, but struggled in net for the first two games of this series. Allen was spectacular, saving 39 of 41 Canucks shots and was up to the task of slowing down one of the hottest teams in August.

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Jacob Markstrom was equally as spectacular as he has been all playoffs long, stopping 46 of 49 Blues shots. He had tremendous positioning and poise all night at the same level that led to a 5 game winning streak coming into Game 3. Along with the 49 shots on goal, the Canucks had 30 blocked shots.

This game was an epic goaltending duel that seemed destined to go long into the night and multiple overtime periods. For the second game in a row, the Blues had extended stints of heavy pressure. In Game 3, St. Louis caught the break they needed to get back into this series.

The first period featured both teams showing great attention to defense and didn’t give up many prime scoring chances or odd-man rushes. The second period is where the scoring picked up.

St. Louis took a too many men on the ice penalty in the opening minute of the period. Canucks forward J.T. Miller scored on the ensuing power play 1:19 into the second period. Elias Pettersson hit Miller with a stretch pass across the neutral zone at the offensive blue line. Quinn Hughes recorded the secondary assist on the goal, extending his point-scoring streak to 6 games.

The Blues tied the score 8:16 into the second on a Justin Faulk goal. Robert Thomas forced a turnover with a hit in the offensive zone. Sammy Blais gained possession and passed back to Thomas. Thomas then fed Faulk, who beat Markstrom low glove-side for the score.

Later, St. Louis took their first lead in this series with 1:58 left to go in the second. David Perron, who leads the team in playoff scoring, sniped a tough angle shot beating Markstrom high glove side from the lower part of the faceoff circle. O’Reilly and Zach Sanford were credited with assists on Perron’s goal.

That lead would only last for 37 seconds of game time as Pettersson capitalized on a defensive miscue to tie the game heading into the third period. Colton Parayko and Marco Scandella collided when they both tried to play the puck in the defensive zone.

Antoine Roussel barreled into the two defensemen after they collided, which popped the puck out to Pettersson, and he cashed in on a high blocker side shot for the score. Pettersson has scored a goal in all three games of this series.

The teams combined for 91 hits in this game and 90 shots on goal. 22 combined shots on goal in a fast paced, high octane overtime period. A hard-hitting, defensive matchup all game long from both teams aside from very few defensive miscues. The last one that led to Schenn’s game-winning goal earned the Blues their first win in August and back into this series.

The Blues will look to even the series Monday night at 10:30 PM EST/7:30 PST.

Game notes

Blues forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen did not play in Game 3. Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers and Tyler Toffoli did not play as well. Each team only had 2 minor penalties apiece, with Miller’s tally being the only power play goal of the night. The Canucks are now 6-11 in this series on the power play.