In St Louis, the Blues defeated the visiting Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, after the skills competition.
The win pushed the Blues within one point of rallying from near dead last in the Western Conference in January to the Central Division’s title but they fell short to the Nashville Predators.
“We’ll see what happens during the rest of the day, but as a whole we’re happy with where we came from and how we were able to find our game and the biggest part was chemistry and fine tuning our group mojo and where we wanted to be,” Alexander Steen said. “It got extremely important for us to turn it around and I think it showed in the way that we played.”
They will host the Winnipeg Jets in the first round of the playoffs.
“Anything can happen,” Blues forward Brayden Schenn said. “We’re looking forward to watching, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter who you play. The league’s so tight and teams are so good, but hopefully we’ll end up with some home-ice advantage.”
Jordan Binnington made 23 saves to get the win and set a rookie rcord for the Blues for wins.
“That’s pretty awesome (to be in first place),” Binnington said. “It’s been a good second half so hopefully we can keep building off that and prepare for the playoffs.
“I’m very humbled and it’s been a lot of fun being part of this team and this League is incredible. It’s been a great experience for me so far and I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Tanner Pearson and Elias Pettersson scored for the Canucks.
“We want to be a team that competes hard and doesn’t give up and they did it again today. … We talked at the beginning of the year about developing and winning, trying to play a fast, aggressive style,” Canucks head coach Travis Green said. “We’ve made some improvements this year while adding some young players, which isn’t always easy.”
Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two points on the night.
“Very proud. Where we were and where we are now, those guys deserve a ton of credit for the turnaround,” Blues head coach Craig Berube said after the game. “They did a great job. Great leadership from our leaders. A lot of character in our dressing room, and it came through. Did a good job, everybody. We needed everybody and everybody helped.”
Schenn also scored for the Blues in regulation.
“It was good to battle back,” Demko said. “They’re a team fighting for the playoffs. We knew they were going to come out hard. I thought we got our legs in the third, a couple power-play goals, get it to overtime, kill off a big penalty and the shootout is sort of a coin flip.”
[WATCH: All Canucks vs. Blues highlights]
Thatcher Demko made 36 saves in the loss.
“It was good to battle back,” Demko said. “They’re a team fighting for the playoffs. We knew they were going to come out hard. I thought we got our legs in the third, a couple power-play goals, get it to overtime, kill off a big penalty and the shootout is sort of a coin flip.”
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