ST. LOUIS -- Depending on your perspective, Thursday night's Blues game against the Sharks was a pretty big matchup.

St. Louis entered with the fifth-worst record in the league. San Jose was sixth-worst. Thursday's result could be the difference in future draft positioning as both teams seem poised to miss the postseason.

The result? A 2-1 Blues overtime win.

Dylan Holloway scored the game-winning goal for St. Louis with 2.4 seconds remaining in overtime.

Dalibor Dvorsky scored for the Blues in the second period, while Alex Wennberg tied the game for San Jose in the third period. Joel Hofer made 23 saves.

Hofer made a huge save on Sam Dickinson in overtime to thwart a Sharks 3 on 1 chance. Immediately after that, Jordan Kyrou had a chance to end the game on the rush with Jimmy Snuggerud, but the puck hopped over his stick. Dvorsky was also stopped with 1:10 left in overtime with a chance to win it for St. Louis.

The Blues have 11 regular-season games remaining, and finish their homestand on Saturday against the Maple Leafs.

Streak ends

Hofer's shutout streak ended at 166:49 when Alex Wennberg beat him 5:04 into the third period.

Hofer had not given up a goal since Connor Zary's in Calgary last week just 2:34 into the game. Hofer blanked the Flames the rest of that game (shootout goals don't count against his goals against), then shut out Washington in his 59:19 of playing time, then went 45:04 into the game Thursday without allowing a goal.

Wennberg collected a pass from William Eklund between his legs off his skate, then got a quick shot off over Hofer's blocker. Earlier on his shift, Wennberg was foiled in tight by Hofer's poke check and a teammate followed up by ringing the post.

On Wennberg's goal, Jack Finley lost a puck battle in the offensive zone, allowing San Jose to mount a 3 on 2 rush.

Hofer entered Thursday one shutout behind the league leader Ilya Sorokin (seven).

Taking advantage

Dvorsky was given an advanced assignment on Thursday night with Robert Thomas out of the lineup due to an apparent head injury suffered Tuesday against the Capitals. Dvorsky filled Thomas' spot on the top line between Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud, which also allowed Dvorsky to match up with San Jose's Macklin Celebrini.

Dvorsky scored his 11th goal of the season at 17:19 of the second period, swatting home a puck in the inner slot after a broken play. Holloway dumped the puck into the corner, allowing Snuggerud to recover it on the fall wall and cycle it back below the goal for Holloway.

Holloway stepped out in front of the net, but could not get a shot off on his backhand. Instead, the puck rolled directly to Dvorsky, who hammerd it home.

For Dvorsky, it was his second goal since returning from the Olympics. It also gave him points in two straight games after his third-period assist on Otto Stenberg's goal Tuesday night. It was his first time with points in consecutive games since a four-game streak from Jan. 20-27.

Getting testy

The second period provided much of what the second period two nights earlier provided: a little bit of nastiness. Against the Capitals on Tuesday night, it was Otto Stenberg, Jimmy Snuggerud and Robert Thomas in the middle of the action.

On Thursday against San Jose, Logan Mailloux and Nathan Walker were the main characters.

Mailloux had his second fight of the season when he took on Zack Ostapchuk at 3:03 of the period. Behind the Blues net, Mailloux shoved Sharks forward Adam Gaudette into the boards, which drew the attention of the nearby Ostapchuk.

Ostapchuk delivered a cross-check to Mailloux's back, then dropped his gloves and starting throwing punches before Mailloux could shed his mitts. For the play, Ostapchuk was given two minutes of instigating, five minutes for fighting and the 10-minute misconduct that is paired with the instigator penalty.

Both of Mailloux's previous fights in a Blues jersey -- one in the preseason and one in the regular season -- were against Chicago, and both against Colton Dach.

About midway through the period, tempers flared once again when Nathan Walker was shoved from behind into Sharks goaltender Yaroslav Askarov by Vincent Desharnais. When San Jose defenseman Dmitry Orlov saw Walker on top of Askarov, he yanked him off and started shoving him.

Walker and Orlov were both assessed roughing minors while Askarov's night ended with 10:54 remaining in the second period. He was lifted from the game due to an injury sustained on the play, forcing Alex Nedeljkovic into the game.

_____

©2026 STLtoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.