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Schenn sends Blues past Canucks with OT winner

*Photo from NHL.com*
   Gloria was played with this win. Robert Thomas had two assists, Brayden Schenn scored in overtime, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Vancouver Canucks with a 4-3 overtime victory on Wednesday night in Vancouver.

   The Blues picked up their 3rd straight win and are 6-3-1 in their last 10, sitting in 5th place in the Central Division with a 24-20-2 record. Thomas and Jake Neighbours led the Blues on the scoresheet, with Thomas recording two assists and Neighbours having a goal and an assist.

   Neighbours said of the Blues win streak that "We're playing good hockey right now for the most part, and we're building our game, and you can see we're really starting to come together as a team and play for each other and support each other. It's really fun to see, and it's fun to be a part of and just got to kind of keep her going."

   Getting the scoring started for the Blues was Neighbours. With Thomas getting the lone assist, he scored his 15th goal of the season 13:14 into the first period. At the 14:57 mark of the period, Pavel Buchnevich scored on the power play to double the Blues lead to 2-0 with assists going to Neighbours and Thomas.

   After a scoreless second period, the Canucks got on the board first in the 3rd period. Pius Suter scored his 10th goal of the season to make it 2-1 with Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson assisting. Alexey Toropchenko scored 41 seconds after Suter to make it 3-1 Blues lead on his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Kevin Hayes and Nathan Walker.

   With the Canucks on the power play 5:42 into the 3rd, Suter scored his second goal of the night to make it a 3-2 game. Suter completed a hat trick when he tied the game 3-3 with 52 seconds left in regulation. Just 1:54 into overtime, Schenn saved the Blues with his 12th goal of the season to make it a 4-3 final score.

   Blues interim head coach Drew Bannister said of the win that it was "Disappointing we weren't able to get out with a regulation win, but I thought the overtime, it was good to see Schenn get another goal. He's been playing really well for us of late. It's a heck of a win from our guys. We showed a lot of character."

   Getting the start in net for the Blues was Joel Hofer, who picked up the win to improve his record to 8-8-0 in 17 games. Hofer stopped 29 of the 32 shots he was tested with by the Canucks, good for a .906 save percentage.

   It was backup Casey DeSmith who got the start for the Canucks, with his record now 7-3-4 in 14 starts with the loss. DeSmith turned aside 14 out of the 18 shots on goal the Blues had, recording a .778 save percentage.

   Suter said after the game that "Happy to rally back from being down two goals twice. Obviously couldn't finish, kind of disappointing, but we do love offensive shifts, create a lot of chances and so, makes it fun and just kind of try and keep it going up there."

   The Blues continue their road trip on Friday night against the Seattle Kraken, with Jordan Binnington expected to get the start. The Canucks welcome the Columbus Blue Jackets to town on Saturday night, with Thatcher Demko projected to be the starting goalie.

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