ST. LOUIS _ Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron scored in the shootout and Jordan Binnington stopped both shots he faced in the shootout as the Blues beat Vancouver 3-2 and kept alive their chances to win the Central Division on Saturday at Enterprise Center.
For a few hours at least, the Blues are in first place in the Central Division with 99 points, one point ahead of Nashville and two up on Winnipeg, both of which play later tonight. The Nashville game starts at 7, the Winnipeg game at 9. The Blues' win assures that they won't know until the conclusion of the Winnipeg game what their playoff situation will be and whether they'll have home ice. The Blues will take first if both Nashville and Winnipeg lose their games. They will be in second and have home ice in the first round if either of the team's lose.
"Very proud," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Where we were and where we are now, those guys deserve a ton of credit for the turnaround. They did a great job. Great leadership from our leaders. A lot of character in our dressing room, and it came through. Did a good job _ everybody. We needed everybody and everybody helped."
It hasn't been easy for the Blues, who in addition to a tough schedule of six games in nine days to close the season have gone to overtime in four of their past five games and gone to shootouts in three of their past four. The Blues closed the season going 8-1-1 in their final 10 games.
"I guess it just shows how tenacious we are and we work together as a team and stay with it and stay composed and we've done a good job," said Binnington, who in addition to his two shootout saves stopped 23 of 25 shots he faced.
The Blues will take Sunday off before returning to practice on Monday to get ready for the playoffs. It's been a tiring finish to the season.
"I think it's just more the whole season," Brayden Schenn said. "We've been playing playoff hockey for a long time now just to clinch and get in. This group has come a long way, come together. We're enjoying playing for one another right now. Obviously winning makes it a whole lot easier now. We feel like we've got a good team in here and hoping to go on a run in the playoffs here."
Binnington made saves on Brock Boeser and Pettersson in the shootout. The save on Boeser ended it.
"I know they're pretty talented guys, pretty soft hands," Binnington said. "I know Boeser's got a good shot, so I was playing that out there. I was just trying to watch the puck and compete."
Vancouver caught the Blues twice in the third period and sent the game to overtime.
Vancouver tied the game at 1 on a power-play goal with 16:07 to go in the third when Tanner Pearson skated between Alex Pietrangelo and Joel Edmundson and came in alone on Binnington.
The Blues went on a power play with 10:02 to go in the period and Tarasenko took a pass from Pietrangelo, skated in on the left side and beat Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko to make it 2-1.
Vancouver tied the game with 2:09 to play on a power-play goal by Elias Pettersson, the favorite for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year, though Binnington is giving him a run for his money.
Schenn fired in a pass from Tarasenko for the goal with 8:10 to go in a first period pretty much controlled by the Blues. It was the 17th goal of the season for Schenn. Ryan O'Reilly also had an assist on the play, giving him 76 points on the season. That's the most by a Blue since Pavol Demitra had 93 in 2002-03.
The Blues also had more of the puck in the second period, including some very long possessions in the Canucks end, but couldn't score. After two periods, the Blues are outshooting Vancouver 19-12 and have 38 shot attempts to Vancouver's 23.
The Blues now have to wait for other results. The Predators play Chicago, starting at 7 p.m., and the Jets face Arizona at 9 p.m., to see if they finish in first in the Central for the first time since 2014-15.
Colton Parayko missed his second straight game with an injury that Berube has described as maintenance rather than anything specific. Berube said he would be back for the start of the playoffs, which will be on Wednesday or Thursday. Also out of the lineup is center Tyler Bozak, whose car was rear-ended on 170 on his way to the rink, though his wife said on Twitter that he was fine. Berube said he was kept out as a precaution. With Bozak out, Robert Thomas moved back to center and Zach Sanford went back into the lineup on the fourth line, with Robby Fabbri moving up to Thomas's spot on the third line.
