Blues rally from three-goal hole, stun Penguins 7-5 in finale

St. Louis turned a flat first period into a late-night surge, erasing a three-goal deficit and beating Pittsburgh 7-5 at Enterprise Center in a home finale that said as much about the Blues’ resilience as it did about the Penguins’ unraveling. Jimmy Snuggerud finished with four points, Dylan Holloway scored twice, and St. Louis scored five straight goals to flip the game after falling behind 3-0.

The Penguins built that cushion even while resting Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson, Kris Letang, Rickard Rakell, Bryan Rust, Samuel Girard, Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar and Parker Wotherspoon. Avery Hayes still produced two goals for Pittsburgh, his second career multi-goal game, and Rutger McGroarty, Anthony Mantha and Elmer Soderblom also scored. But the early control did not hold. Stuart Skinner stopped 17 of 21 shots before being replaced by Arturs Silovs, who made seven saves, while Jordan Binnington turned aside 18 shots and added an assist for the Blues.

St. Louis changed the game after the first intermission. Blues coach Jim Montgomery called the opening frame “very sloppy” and said he let the players talk at intermission rather than stepping in right away. The approach seemed to work. St. Louis outshot Pittsburgh 16-6 in the second period and kept pressing into the third, when Holloway and Pavel Buchnevich scored 44 seconds apart. Holloway’s wrister from the slot gave the Blues their first lead 4:11 into the third, Buchnevich later added a breakaway goal for his 19th of the season, and Holloway finished the comeback with an empty-net goal.

The result fit the shape of St. Louis’ season even more than the score line did. The Blues had been eliminated from playoff contention on April 12, after the Los Angeles Kings beat the Edmonton Oilers 1-0, and NHL.com noted it was St. Louis’ third missed postseason in four years. Still, this was the kind of performance that can matter beyond the standings: a team that has struggled for consistency showed it can generate offense in waves and respond under pressure.

Snuggerud’s night carried its own weight. The 23rd overall pick in the 2022 draft has become one of the most important young pieces in the lineup, and his season line stood at 21 goals and 29 assists for 50 points in 69 games. NHL.com also noted that he had won NHL Rookie of the Month for March after becoming the first Blues rookie with at least 15 points in a calendar month since Rod Brind’Amour in November 1989.

For Pittsburgh, the loss closed a regular season that ended with three straight defeats before a first-round matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers. Whether this was a one-off collapse or a warning about how the Penguins defend when the structure is stripped down will become clearer soon enough, but Thursday’s film will not flatter the third period. St. Louis, meanwhile, left its home ice with a comeback win that offered a cleaner ending and a sharper view of where the Blues’ young offense might be headed.