Blues finally win three in a row by beating East-leading Capitals 5-2

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Feb 27, 2025

Published in Hockey

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WASHINGTON – The Blues can stop hearing about their inability to win three games in a row.

They took care of that with a 5-2 win over the Eastern Conference-leading Capitals on Thursday night, running their win streak to three games and their point streak to five games.

Philip Broberg scored twice, and Dylan Holloway, Colton Parayko and Jake Neighbours (empty-net) each added a goal while Joel Hofer made 17 saves. Robert Thomas had an assist to extend his point streak to eight games, while Pavel Buchnevich's point streak stretched to five games with two assists.

The Blues entered Thursday night 0-7-1 this season with a chance to win three straight games. They were the only team in the NHL not to win three consecutive games this season. And with just 23 games remaining, their runway to push themselves into the playoff conversation was shortening.

But St. Louis (28-26-6) pushed through Thursday night, and now only three games remain before the March 7 trade deadline, beginning with Saturday's home game against the Kings.

Active from the back end

Broberg scored twice in the first period and both times when he joined the rush. Broberg gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 11:14, finishing a one-timer on a cross-slot pass from Mathieu Joseph. Joseph began the play by breaking up a pass in the defensive zone, allowing Broberg to lead the rush and later camp out in the right circle to await Joseph’s pass.

Pierre-Luc Dubois scored for the Capitals at 15:04 to tie the game, tucking home his 14th goal of the season. But Broberg responded shortly after that to regain a one-goal lead for the Blues.

When Pavel Buchnevich disrupted a Capitals entry at the Blues blue line, Broberg hopped up the weak side and made himself an option for Jake Neighbours’ pass through the neutral zone. Broberg collected the puck at the left dot and cut towards the net, evading Charlie Lindgren’s poke check and sweeping a backhand into the goal before flying into the corner as if he were Bobby Orr.

It was Broberg’s first career multi-goal game and gave him six goals on the season, his first in St. Louis.

Responding in a flash

Connor McMichael scored with 3:05 remaining in the second period to tie the game at 2, avoiding checks by Jordan Kyrou and Oskar Sundqvist to walk from the wall into the circle and rip a shot far side on Hofer. The goal came 26 seconds after the Blues successfully killed Kyrou's holding penalty.

But the Blues took over quickly.

Twenty-eight seconds after McMichael tied the game, Holloway untied it by tipping a Ryan Suter point shot. Brayden Schenn picked up the secondary assist on the goal, giving him a point in his 1,000th NHL game.

The Blues extended the lead to 4-2 just 35 seconds later when Parayko scored his 14th goal of the season at the net-front after a goal-mouth scramble popped the puck loose to him. Parayko is tied with Zach Werenski for the most goals at 5 on 5 among NHL defensemen (11).

Celebrating Schenn

The Blues recognized captain Brayden Schenn’s 1,000th NHL game by wearing white hats during warmup with a navy bill and a navy “10” emblazoned on it. Schenn was the only Blue not wearing a hat, and Jordan Kyrou, Dylan Holloway and Zack Bolduc wore them backwards. The hats were designed by Jordan Binnington and ordered with the help of former Blue Jordan Schmaltz.

Schenn’s father, Jeff, read the starting lineup inside the Blues dressing room. The starters, of course, included his son.

Capital One Arena honored Schenn during a timeout in the first period by posting a graphic on the video board and announcing that it was Schenn’s 1,000th game, which drew light applause from the crowd and stick taps from the Blues bench.

Cashing in

Blues defenseman Ryan Suter earned a $600,000 bonus by playing in his 60th game of the season on Thursday night. Suter is playing on a salary worth the league minimum $775,000, but already earned bonuses of $225,000 at 10 games played, $400,000 at 30 games played and $500,000 at 40 games played. He can earn an additional $500,000 bonus for making the playoffs.

This season, Suter is also being paid $833,333 by the Wild and $783,333 by the Stars as part of buyouts in Minnesota and Dallas.

For the Blues, Suter’s performance bonuses could impact them if they force St. Louis to finish this season over the salary cap. Any bonus overages would be carried over to next season’s cap structure.

-- Charlie Lindgren started in goal for the Capitals opposite of Joel Hofer, meaning the two goaltenders that took the Springfield Thunderbirds to the 2022 Calder Cup Final started against each other on Thursday night.

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