Blues edge Coyotes despite dreadful night on power play

[November 10, 2023]   Oskar Sundqvist and Robert Thomas scored as the St. Louis Blues edged the visiting Arizona Coyotes 2-1 on Thursday.
 
Joel Hofer made 19 saves for the Blues, who finished 3-1-0 on their four-game homestand.

Nov 9, 2023; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Oskar Sundqvist (70) is congratulated by goaltender Joel Hofer (30) after scoring against the Arizona Coyotes during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Lawson Crouse scored and Karel Vejmelka made 31 saves for the Coyotes.

The Blues went 0-for-7 on the power play but outshot the Coyotes 33-20.

The Coyotes came out of the first period tied 1-1 despite giving the Blues four power plays, including a 5-on-3 opportunity for two minutes, with a series of penalties.

St. Louis outshot Arizona 15-3 in the period but went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Blues scored first with the help of referee Pierre Lambert, who fell and accidentally picked off Coyotes forward Logan Cooley. That allowed Sundqvist to take a pass from Sammy Blais and move in unchecked to beat Vejmelka just 2:16 into the game.

After the Coyotes kept the Blues at bay with their outstanding penalty killing, they tied the game with 4:16 left in the first period on their first power play. Crouse stepped in as the trailer on a three-on-two rush to score from the right circle off Clayton Keller's feed.

The Blues went 0-for-3 on their power play in the second period but outshot the Coyotes 12-7 in the period and took a 2-1 lead when Thomas extended his goal-scoring streak to five games.

Pavel Buchnevich kicked the puck to himself, then slid a pass to Thomas cutting to the right post six minutes into the period for Thomas' sixth of the season.

Alexey Toropchenko just missed a chance to extend the St. Louis lead in the third when he shot wide from the near slot off a Jakub Vrana centering pass.

Thomas also missed a chance when he hit the crossbar with 5:31 left in the game and Brayden Schenn hit the post with an empty net with less than two minutes to play.

--Field Level Media

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