ST. LOUIS — Kasperi Kapanen's eighth goal in 20 games for St. Louis gave the Blues a hard-fought 3-2 overtime victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday at Enterprise Center.
The Rangers (46-21-12) are headed to the playoffs. The Blues (37-35-7) are headed to the offseason in a week. But they are 8-2-2 in their last 12 games and closing out the season with some pride.
Tyler Pitlick scored just his seventh of the season but his second in as many games to give the Blues a 2-1 lead with 9:47 left in the third period.
Both Pitlick and Nathan Walker were creating chaos in front of the Rangers’ net with Pitlick poking the puck in. So strike up another one for the fourth line, which has now scored six goals in its last six games.
But with just 2:20 left, Justin Faulk went off for slashing and the Blues' struggling penalty kill unit was victimized again. Vincent Trocheck scored from the bumper position in the slot on an assist from Vladimir Tarasenko.
This was a huge game for Tarasenko, his return to St. Louis for the first time since the big trade on Feb. 9.
It was very meaningful as well for Pavel Buchnevich, who was traded to the Blues in the summer of 2021 and returned to action Thursday after missing four games with an upper-body injury.
So who would have thought the first Russian to make an impact on the game would be the 23-year-old forward from Moscow, Alexey Toropchenko. In what was a scoreless game in the second period, New York had the puck in its zone, with Tarasenko having his stick up near the right circle — looking for the puck and a shot.
But Toropchenko picked the pocket of Artemi Panarin and blasted down the ice on a breakaway. With Trocheck closing fast, Toropchenko blistered a shot — high and glove side — past former Blue Jaroslav Halak, who was in net for the Rangers.
It was Toropchenko’s 10th goal of the season. Over his last six games, the player known as Torpo has four goals and two assists.
Toropchenko, by the way, idolized Tarasenko growing up.
“When I got drafted, when I came to camp for the first time, I looked at him like a god,” Toropchenko told the Post-Dispatch on the day Tarasenko was traded. “It was a dream for me. When I was a little kid I was watching him play on TV. And it was just a dream to play with him.”
On the day Tarasenko was traded, Toropchenko asked him for a stick. Tarasenko obliged, even signing it for Toropchenko.
But the idol became the goal-scorer for the Rangers, tying the game at 1-1 early in the third period. With Buchnevich off for tripping just 57 seconds into the third, New York’s ninth-ranked power play went to work.
Tarasenko scored backdoor off a rebound for his 18th goal of the season and his eighth as a member of the Rangers. The crowd responded with a few boos mixed in with some cheers.
It was the 13th power-play goal allowed by the Blues in the last eight games. The Blues entered the game with the NHL’s 28th-ranked penalty kill at 73.5%.
Welcome back, Vladi
The last of a steady stream of “homecoming” video tributes took place Thursday, with New York Ranger Vladimir Tarasenko returning home to Enterprise Center.
The tribute lasted nearly two minutes during a TV timeout and Tarasenko skated out to center ice to acknowledge the crowd. The standing ovation was loud and long, but the consensus in the press box was that the cheers were louder and longer for David Perron two weeks ago.
During an earlier break in the first period, defenseman Niko Mikkola — who was part of the Tarasenko trade on Feb. 9 — got a brief video board shout out and received a standing ovation from the crowd as well.
Scoreless first
The Rangers won a 6-3 slugfest with Eastern Conference rival Tampa Bay on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, and then flew to St. Louis for Thursday’s game. Not surprisingly, they looked a little sluggish in the first period, which featured only 14 combined shots on goal — eight by the Blues and six by New York.
It was an even first period, perhaps with a slight edge to the Blues, who had several promising plays that just didn’t click at the end — be it from a rolling puck, or a pass that just didn’t click, or a back-checking Ranger breaking up the play at the last second.
Samurokov’s debut
Defenseman Dmitri Samurokov made his Blues debut Thursday, playing on the third pairing with Calle Rosen. After the first period alone, Samurokov had established a career high for ice time in a game (5:22) and shifts (six).
That’s because in his only previous NHL game — played as a member of the Edmonton Oilers against the Blues — Samurokov played only 2:28 and four shifts. He had some, uh, trouble defending Jordan Kyrou and was benched early in the game.
