NEW DELHI: The St. Louis Blues secured a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday, led by goals from Oskar Sundqvist and Robert Thomas. The Blues' goaltender, Joel Hofer, made 19 saves, contributing to the team's successful homestand.
Despite dominating the first period with a 15-3 shot advantage, the Blues found themselves tied 1-1 with the Coyotes. Sundqvist opened the scoring just 2:16 into the game, taking advantage of a fortunate play where referee Pierre Lambert accidentally impeded Coyotes forward Logan Cooley, creating an opportunity for Sundqvist.
The Coyotes, known for their strong penalty killing, held off the Blues on four power plays in the first period. On their first power play, they capitalized to equalize the score at 1-1, with Lawson Crouse finding the net from the right circle off a feed from Clayton Keller.
In the second period, the Blues continued to struggle on the power play, going 0-for-3. However, Robert Thomas broke the tie and extended his goal-scoring streak to five games with a goal six minutes into the period. Pavel Buchnevich set up the play, kicking the puck to himself and delivering a pass to Thomas, who found the back of the net.
Despite several chances for both teams in the third period, including a missed opportunity by the Blues' Alexey Toropchenko and hits on the crossbar and post, the score remained 2-1 in favor of the Blues.
The victory marked the end of a successful four-game homestand for the Blues, who outshot the Coyotes 33-20 but struggled on the power play, going 0-for-7. The strong goaltending by Joel Hofer and the contributions from Sundqvist and Thomas played crucial roles in securing the Blues' win.
(With Reuters inputs)
