The St. Louis Blues picked up a valuable two points on Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks. With the 4-3 overtime victory, the Blues jumped over the Canucks into the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. However, by forcing overtime, the Canucks gained a valuable point. Instead of leading the Canucks by two points, the Blues only lead them by one. As the reason winds down, that could come back to haunt the Blues. Furthermore, there is some recent history from 2018 that proves it.
2018 Goal to Haunt the Blues?
The Duncan Keith Game
We are going to flashback to April 4, 2018. The Blues are hosting the Chicago Blackhawks for the final home game of the 2017-18 season. With a win, the Blues would jump into the Western Conference’s final wild card spot.
Through a period and a half, the Blues are leading the Blackhawks 3-1. However, Blake Hillman scores a shorthanded goal to make it 3-2. Early in the third period, Alex DeBrincat scores to tie the game. Furthermore, with exactly two minutes left in regulation, defenceman Chris Butler goes to the penalty box, and the Blues are shorthanded.
As the seconds tick down, fans hope and pray the game goes to overtime. Once the clock hits 0:00, the penalty will expire, and the Blues can regroup in overtime. In addition, they will pick up a valuable point.
Then, with the clock showing 10 seconds left, DeBrincat passes the puck to Duncan Keith, who has only scored one goal all season. Keith one-times the puck, and it beats Jake Allen. The Blackhawks lead 4-3 with 8.5 seconds. The Blues lose the game. They do not get a valuable two points. They do not even get a valuable single point. A few days in the last game of the season, the Colorado Avalanche beat the Blues in regulation to jump the Blues and take the final wild card spot by a single point.
Only 8.5 seconds left on the clock?
Yeah, @DuncanKeith‘s got it. pic.twitter.com/ArDkuIUGZN
— NHL (@NHL) April 5, 2018
They would have gotten at least a point if the Blues had forced overtime. Furthermore, they would have clinched the last playoff spot prior to the game in Colorado. Alas, Keith scored and deprived the Blue of that valuable point.
Brock Boeser Heroics
The Blues game on Thursday was a little different from the 2018 game. Instead of killing a penalty in a tie game and forcing overtime, the Blues were looking to defend a 3-2 in the final minute.
With 10 seconds left, a bad pass from a Canucks player left the zone, forcing the Canucks players to retreat to keep the play onside. The Blues were in prime position to win the game in regulation. However, a defence lapse gave the Canucks one last chance. Boesner snuck in on right wing and fired a slap shot passed Jordan Binnington with 2.7 seconds left. Instead of taking a two-point lead, both teams earned a point as the game entered overtime. Philip Broberg‘s overtime goal gave the Blues the win and the extra point.
BOESER FORCES OVERTIME! pic.twitter.com/WJqLfH6cSQ
— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) March 21, 2025
As the season winds down, the Blues may regret giving up the Boeser goal just like they regret the Keith goal. A two-point lead in the standings is the equivalent of a one-game lead. If both teams are playing on the same night, a two-point lead provides an additional cushion that helps the leading team avoid being leapfrogged that night should they lose and the trailing team win.
The Tie-Breaking Issue
There are tiebreakers that come into play should two teams end up with the same number of points at the end of the season. The first is wins that are not in overtime or a shootout. In other words, regulation wins. The Blues and Canucks each have 25 regulation wins. If the Blues had won in regulation, they would have had one more regulation win than the Canucks, thus would own the first tiebreaker. The Blues do own the next tiebreaker, which is non-shootout wins. However, while the Blues are still in good shape, they would have been in much better shape had they won in regulation. Instead of a two-point lead and a one-game lead in the first and second tiebreaker, the Blues have a one-point lead, tied for the first tiebreaker, and a one-game lead for the second.
The Bottom Line
This is not to diminish the Blues win. The team has been playing great hockey and has finally found itself in a playoff spot. For a franchise that has not been in the playoffs since 2022, to be in this position at this point in the season is great.
However, it is worth acknowledging exactly where the team is in the standings. Will that extra point come back and haunt the Blues in April? Will Boeser’s goal haunt the Blues just like Keith’s goal? We will have to play the games and find out.
Main Photo: Jeff Curry- Imagn Images
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