Buchnevich scores twice as Blues rally for 4-3 overtime win over Kraken

SEATTLE — Pavel Buchnevich scored his second goal of the game 3:31 into overtime and the St. Louis Blues rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken on Friday night.

St. Louis, which trailed 3-1 in the second period, won its fourth straight game and picked up two points in the crowded race for one of the wild-card spots in the Western Conference.

Buchnevich scored his 15th goal of the season 1:27 into the third period to pull the Blues even at 3, beating Joey Daccord to the glove side off a feed from Robert Thomas.

St. Louis controlled the puck and had the better chances early in overtime and Buchnevich brought a perfect end to the Blues’ three-game road trip by beating Daccord off a feed from Brayden Schenn.

Buchnevich finished with three points.

St. Louis (52 points) moved within one point of both Nashville and Los Angeles in the wild-card race, while Seattle (50 points) moved three points back. Both the Kraken and Blues have two games remaining before the All-Star break.

Thomas scored his 17th goal of the season on a power play late in the second period that turned the momentum for St. Louis after Seattle had controlled most of the period. Oskar Sundqvist also scored on the power play 7:39 into the first period for St. Louis.

St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington made 33 saves.

Oliver Bjorkstrand had a goal and an assist for Seattle, but the Kraken lost for the fifth time in six games. Eeli Tolvanen and Brian Dumoulin also scored for the Kraken.

Bjorkstrand’s power play goal 3:55 into the second period came moments after Daccord stopped a shorthanded 2-on-1 rush by the Blues. The save led to a breakout for Seattle and eventually Bjorkstrand’s sixth power-play goal of the season.

Bjorkstrand was also the reason for Tolvanen’s goal less than three minutes later. Bjorkstrand’s backcheck on Scott Perunovich led to a steal and Tolvanen eventually finished the play off a pass from Yanni Gourde.

Daccord made 14 saves for Seattle.

UP NEXT

Kraken close out their homestand against Columbus on Sunday.

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BLUES 4, KRAKEN 3 (OT)

St. Louis 1 1 1 1—4

Seattle 1 2 0 0—3

First Period—1, St. Louis, Sundqvist 6 (Krug, Schenn), 7:39 (pp). 2, Seattle, Dumoulin 4 (Schwartz, Larsson), 10:16.

Second Period—3, Seattle, Bjorkstrand 13 (McCann, Wennberg), 3:55 (pp). 4, Seattle, Tolvanen 13 (Bjorkstrand, Gourde), 6:42. 5, St. Louis, Thomas 17 (Buchnevich, Perunovich), 15:01.

Third Period—6, St. Louis, Buchnevich 15 (Thomas), 1:27.

Overtime—7, St. Louis, Buchnevich 16 (Schenn), 3:31.

Shots on Goal—St. Louis 5-5-5-2—17. Seattle 11-10-14-1—36.

Power-play opportunities—St. Louis 2 of 2; Seattle 1 of 2.

Goalies—St. Louis, Binnington 17-12-2 (36 shots-33 saves). Seattle, Daccord 14-8-9 (18-14).

A—17,151 (17,100). T·2:27.

Referees—Michael Markovic, Kevin Pollock. Linesmen—Kiel Murchison, Mark Shewchyk.