Robert Thomas picked a good night for his first NHL hat trick, burying the winner with 2:50 left to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 stunner over the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena on Sunday night. The victory snapped the Blues' slide and pumped new life into their late push for a Western Conference wild-card spot.
Thomas Seals It With A Late Finish
Thomas capped the hat trick on a back-door tap-in after a sharp feed from Jimmy Snuggerud, finishing off a night in which Snuggerud and Dylan Holloway drove the Blues' offense. Joel Hofer stopped 26 shots, including a late barrage, and Thomas admitted the milestone felt like "a little bit of a relief" after waiting so long to get it, as detailed by NHL.com.
Young Line Fuels The Comeback
The Thomas-Snuggerud-Holloway trio combined for nine points and finished a team-best plus-8, a tidy piece of evidence that coach Jim Montgomery's March 6 lineup shuffle has worked out nicely. That young unit has been a revelation in recent weeks and has reshaped the feel of St. Louis' attack, per The New York Times.
Playoff Picture
Sunday's upset trimmed the Blues' deficit in the Western wild-card race and kept their late surge rolling. Since the Olympic break, the team has been on one of the NHL's hottest stretches. The win left St. Louis three points back in the West's wild-card chase with six games to go, a razor-thin margin that makes every remaining night feel like an elimination game, according to ESPN.
Hofer's Hot Run And A Stout Defense
Goaltender Joel Hofer has been rock solid. He is 9-1-2 since the Olympic break with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .943 save percentage, and the Blues have limited opponents to two or fewer goals in 15 of 19 games over that span. That defensive discipline, paired with the new top line's chemistry, has become the backbone of St. Louis' push, per The New York Times.
What's Next
The Blues head back to St. Louis to host Colorado again on Tuesday, then close with Winnipeg, Chicago, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and a finale at Utah in their last six games, a stretch that will determine whether this late rush translates into a postseason berth. The full remaining slate is listed on the official schedule at NHL.com.
