The St. Louis Blues went into Wednesday night with a chance to clinch a Western Conference playoff spot. They needed to win in regulation, and they needed the Calgary Flames to lose in regulation.
Both games ended in dramatic fashion, and the Blues didn’t get what they needed.
Jim Montgomery’s club erased two one-goal deficits in the third period, but with 20 seconds remaining in regulation, Edmonton’s Connor McDavid tallied his third assist of the game on Connor Brown’s second goal for a 4-3 victory, the Blues’ second straight loss.
“I thought our effort was good. I thought we battled hard,” Montgomery told reporters postgame. “Obviously we didn’t do a good enough job of checking McDavid, and we didn’t do a good enough job of defending our net front. I didn’t think we did a good enough job of getting to their net front. I thought the net-front battle was the difference in the game.”
It was McDavid’s first game since March 20 after missing eight games with a lower-body injury. From the Blues’ perspective, it was bad timing for his return, as he netted three helpers in a game for the 53rd time in his career.
The game-winning goal was a perfect example of the net-front defense issues. McDavid took the puck behind the net, drawing the Blues’ Cam Fowler and Brayden Schenn with him. That left Brown alone in front of the net.
Connor Brown collects the GWG 🤎 #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/77p3NlyXOz
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 10, 2025
The Blues weren’t happy with the events that led to that scoring play.
Nathan Walker, who had been in the penalty box for a late tripping penalty, found himself on a breakaway after a long stretch pass from Fowler. Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse tried to whack the puck away with his stick. Walker fell and barreled into the net, knocking it off its moorings. Nurse could have been called for tripping as well, but he wasn’t.
“I’m not going to comment on refereeing because it’s a fine, but the video (shows) the net came off at the end,” Montgomery said.
Regardless, the Blues gave up another even-strength goal in the last minute of a game, albeit off an assist from McDavid.
“He’s one of the best, if not the best, in the league, and he showed us why tonight,” said Blues center Robert Thomas, who had two assists to extend his point streak to 10 games.
The Blues also had 10 missed shots, including a few Grade-A chances by Thomas and defenseman Tyler Tucker.
“We had a lot of looks. I had a lot of looks, and we’ll be thinking about those tonight,” Thomas said. “There were key moments where we had looks that, if we score, it’s a different outlook on the game.”
Jordan Kyrou, who scored his 34th goal of the season in the third period, had five shots on net.
“Just our details, not that great,” Kyrou said. “It stinks. We really need these points right now. It’s a tight race, so yeah, it’s a tough loss.”
The Blues dropped to the second wild-card spot in the West with 93 points. They are tied with the Minnesota Wild in points, but the Wild, which came away with a 8-7 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks Wednesday, has one game in hand.
Both the Blues and the Wild are trying to fend off the Calgary Flames for the final postseason berth in the conference, and they got a hand from the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night. The Ducks scored two goals late in the third period, then won 4-3 in overtime over the Flames.
Interestingly, the Flames host the Wild Friday night. The outcome of that game will have a heavy impact on not only the Blues’ chances of clinching a playoff spot, but also on whether they would face the Winnipeg Jets or the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round.
But first thing’s first — the Blues have to qualify.
The Flames are five points back of the Blues with 88 points, but they have two games in hand and four games remaining (vs. Minnesota, vs. San Jose, vs. Vegas, at L.A.).
The Flames can still get to 96 points, which means if they win out, the Blues would need three points in their final two games (at Seattle, vs. Utah) to secure a spot. The Blues currently hold the tiebreakers — regulation wins (31-28) and regulation/overtime wins (39-33) — over the Flames.
#stlblues playoff picture pic.twitter.com/fxQiTWuR6U
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) April 10, 2025
So, depending on the result of Friday’s game between the Flames and Wild, the Blues could clinch on Saturday against Seattle.
Meanwhile, it’s a battle between the Blues and Wild for the first wild card, which will likely play the Jets (110 points) or the Dallas Stars (106) in the first round, with the second wild card facing the Golden Knights (103). The Wild wraps up at Calgary, at Vancouver and vs. Anaheim.
“We’ve got two games to lock down where we want to be,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to get back to playing the right way and being dominant for 60 minutes.”
“Just take a day off (Thursday) and come back with a hard practice the day after that,” Kyrou said. “We’ve just got to come ready next game.”
(Photo: Walter Tychnowicz / Imagn Images)