Blues Rally in 2nd to Beat Blackhawks 5-3, St. Louis Eliminated from Playoffs

The St. Louis Blues defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 5-3 at the United Center on Saturday, but it was not enough to keep them in the playoff race as the Los Angeles Kings shut out the Edmonton Oilers 1-0 earlier in the day. The Blues got three second-period goals from Alexey Toropchenko, Jordan Kyrou and Cam Fowler to take control of the game. Ilya Mikheyev had two goals for Chicago, marking his 200th career point in the NHL.

St. Louis opened the scoring at 9:26 of the first period when Jimmy Snuggerud converted a setup from Tyler Tucker. The Blackhawks answered just over two minutes later as Ryan Greene tied the game with a snap shot from a Connor Bedard assist. Mikheyev gave Chicago a 2-1 lead just three minutes into the second before the Blues exploded for three straight goals.

Toropchenko evened the score at 4:10 with a breakaway backhander over Arvid Soderblom’s glove. Kyrou added a power-play goal at 12:06, and Fowler made it 4-2 at 17:20. Dalibor Dvorsky capped the scoring in the third period with a one-timer from a Jake Neighbours pass.

Mikheyev notched his second goal of the game late in the third to make it 5-3. The goal was assisted by Tyler Bertuzzi and was the 200th point of Mikheyev’s NHL career. Soderblom made 23 saves in the loss, while Joel Hofer turned aside 32 shots for the Blues.

Chicago was without defenseman Ethan Del Mastro due to injury, and forwards Frank Nazar and Andrew Mangiapane both left the game with injuries. The Blackhawks have now lost three straight and eight of nine, falling to 28-38-14 on the season.

St. Louis, who is now 34-33-12, has won three of its last five games but remains mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. The Blues will close out the regular season on the road against the New Jersey Devils on April 13.