VANCOUVER — It was something he had never seen before, but Jaden Schwartz made the most of the situation.
Schwartz scored on a 3-on-0 breakaway at 3:28 of overtime to give the St. Louis Blues a 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night.
With both teams playing 3-on-3, Vancouver’s Tyler Myers fired a shot that missed wide of the St. Louis net. Two Canucks collided in the corner and the puck went the length of the ice with three Blues chasing.
Schwartz finished off a tic-tac-toe play alongside Alex Pietrangelo and Brayden Schenn as the Blues won their third straight game in overtime and the fourth time in five games.
“I am not even sure what happened,” said Schwartz, who scored his second goal of the season. “I was a little surprised.
“You don’t really get a lot of 3-on-0 practices. You don’t want to miss when you have that much time. I knew the goalie didn’t know what to do because there was so many of us. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom smashed his stick in anger after the goal.
“Sometimes it can be frustrating when you’re playing well and you’re doing the right things and you don’t get rewarded,” said Markstrom.
Tyler Bozak, with his first goal of the season, also scored for the Blues (10-3-2) at 3:37 of the second period.
Vancouver rookie defenceman Quinn Hughes, who returned to action after missing a game with a bruised knee, tied the score with 3:35 left in the third.
St. Louis goaltender Jordan Binnington finished the night with 33 saves and is 6-1-0 his last seven games.
It was the fifth consecutive win for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who are 7-1-0 in their last eight games.
Markstrom stopped 25 shots for Vancouver. The Canucks (9-3-3) are 7-1-3 in their last 11 games and have not lost in regulation at home this season.
Bozak said the Blues gained valuable experience in their championship run last year which has helped them in their string of overtime victories.
“Last year kind of helped us in moments like that to not panic and just stick with it and try and play our game,” he said. “That’s what we’ve done and luckily we’ve been on the winning end of them.”
The match had the feel of an NHL playoff game. There were some big hits thrown by each team and end-to-end rushes.
“That was a big boy game,” said Vancouver coach Travis Green. “That’s a heavy team. They know how to win.
“I thought that game was probably the most physical game we’ve been in this season. I thought our team handled it very well.”
Bozak’s goal came after Sammy Blais made a nice play in the corner, feathering a pass between two Canuck defenders. Bozak tucked the puck past Markstrom.
Hughes second NHL goal came on a fluttering shot from the blue line that went over Binnington’s shoulder. Elias Pettersson was screening on the play.
Binnington came up big several times during the game.
Early in the first period Pettersson turned a Brock Boeser pass into a breakaway that Binnington stopped. Later J.T. Miller found himself alone in front of the net but he too couldn’t beat the Blues goalie.
Brandon Sutter had a short-handed breakaway at 10:45 of the third but Binnington made the save.
Blues head coach Craig Berube praised his goaltender.
“Binner was good, made some nice saves for sure,” he said. “We did a lot of good things offensively too.
“They are a good hockey team. It was a good game all around.”
NOTES: Blues defenceman Jay Bouwmeester played in 1,200th career game. … Vancouver’s win over San Jose Saturday gave the Canucks 20 points in 14 or fewer games for the fourth time in franchise history. …The Canucks scored 45 goals in October, the third best total for the month in franchise history. … Referee Ian Walsh was helped off the ice at 3:25 of the first period but was back on the ice to start the second.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2019.
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press