Pavel Buchnevich's late goal lifts Blues to 3-1 win over Wild

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Mar 1, 2026

Published in Hockey

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And so the streak ends.

In a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild, the St. Louis Blues snapped a 10-game road losing streak that dated back to before Christmas.

Pavel Buchnevich scored the game-winning goal with 3:39 remaining in the third period, picking the far corner for his 14th goal of the season. It was the Blues' first road win since Dec. 20 in Florida.

One night after Buchnevich scored on a goalie turnover against the New Jersey Devils, he did so again Sunday in Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson tried to rim the puck around the boards, but it was jammed up and then Jimmy Snuggerud found Buchnevich with space.

Buchnevich and Robert Thomas each had a goal and an assist, while Logan Mailloux also scored for the Blues. Joel Hofer stopped 22 of 23 shots to earn the win.

Hofer made his biggest save of the game on former Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko with 31.7 seconds remaining in the third period, robbing him on what would have been the game-tying goal. Shortly after that, Thomas scored into the empty net with 24.3 left to secure the win.

The Blues will practice Tuesday in St. Louis before embarking back on the road for a game in Seattle on Wednesday. It is their last game before Friday's trade deadline.

Making the most of it

For the second straight game, Mailloux took on added responsibility with Colton Parayko out due to back spasms. On Saturday, he played a season high in minutes. On Sunday, he scored his second goal of the season.

Mailloux scored with 1:55 remaining in the second period to tie the game at 1, just his second goal as a member of the Blues. Mailloux beat Gustavsson on the blocker side in transition after Thomas did the grunt work in his own zone to spring St. Louis on the rush.

Thomas won a board battle in the corner in his own zone, then found Brayden Schenn, who skated the puck into the neutral zone. Thomas joined the rush there, carried over the blue line and dropped a pass for Mailloux. Thomas' slight interference on Quinn Hughes gave Mailloux more space to shoot, and he delivered.

Mailloux's only other goal with the Blues was Dec. 12 against Chicago.

In logging 20:32 of ice time on Sunday, Mailloux played at least 20 minutes in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

Phantom high stick

The Wild scored at 16:09 of the second period on the power play to take a 1-0 lead, capitalizing on Jack Finley's high-sticking penalty. But in actuality, it was not Finley's stick that nailed Joel Eriksson Ek in the face. That stick belonged to Wild teammate Daemon Hunt.

But because the call on the ice was a minor high-sticking penalty and not a double-minor, the play could not be reviewed and correctly assessed. So Finley was sent to the box, and the Wild scored 47 seconds into his penalty.

The Blues had the better chances during the Wild power play to start, as Oskar Sundqvist tied up a few Wild players to allow Buchnevich a shot on goal. Pius Suter later led a three-on-two rush, but the Blues couldn't generate a quality chance, which led to Minnesota's three-on-one rush the other way.

Kaprizov, Quinn Hughes and Matt Boldy forced Philip Broberg to defend all three of them. When Broberg pressured Hughes, he found Boldy, whose pass to the net-front was redirected by Kaprizov.

Odds and ends

— With the return of Thomas and Oskar Sundqvist to the Blues lineup, Nathan Walker and Jonatan Berggren were the healthy scratches. In order to activate Thomas from injured reserve, Robby Fabbri was waived.

— The Blues sandwiched games against the Hughes brothers around their appearance on "Saturday Night Live" on NBC. Jack Hughes played against the Blues on Saturday afternoon, then flew to New York in time to appear in the monologue. Quinn Hughes flew back to Minnesota before facing the Blues on Sunday afternoon.

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