Robert Thomas' hat trick pulls Blues past Colorado, three points back of playoff spot

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Apr 6, 2026

Published in Hockey

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Robert Thomas will just drag the Blues up the standings himself.

Thomas' first career hat trick led the Blues past Colorado 3-2 on Sunday night, pulling St. Louis three points back from a playoff spot with six games to go. The Blues (78 points in 76 games) are trying to chase down the Predators (81 in 76 GP), plus the Kings (81 in 76 GP) and Sharks (79 in 75 GP). The Blues are tied with the Jets in points and games played, but own the tiebreaker with a 29-26 edge in regulation wins.

Thomas scored the game-winning goal for the Blues with 2:50 remaining in the third period, securing the first hat trick of his NHL career. Thomas was open for a backdoor tap-in after Jimmy Snuggerud did the heavy lifting by creating space with a toe-drag, then slid a no-look pass to Thomas while fooling Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.

Parker Kelly and Brent Burns scored for the Avalanche, who were denied a chance to clinch the top spot in the Western Conference on Sunday night. Colorado will have another chance on Tuesday when it visits the Blues at Enterprise Center.

Joel Hofer made 26 saves to earn the win.

Of the Blues' six remaining games, four of them are at home.

Mr. Hatty

Thomas became the team's first 20-goal scorer of the season when he scored in the second period on Sunday night. By reaching 20 goals, Thomas saved the Blues from making unfortunate history this season; St. Louis had never gone a full season without a 20-goal scorer (only time was in the shortened 2012-13 season, when Chris Stewart had 18).

Of course, Thomas later added his 21st goal of the season as the game-winner.

Thomas has quietly had the best goal-scoring season of his career, as his 21 goals have come in 58 games, good for 0.36 goals per game. That's higher than his 0.32 rate in 2023-24, when Thomas played in all 82 games and scored 26 goals.

Thomas has missed 18 games this season due to injury.

Since returning to the lineup on March 1, Thomas has been one of the best players in the league. He has 23 points in 16 games, a 1.44 points per game rate that is tied for eighth in the NHL (minimum 10 games) with Connor McDavid.

His night on Sunday was his seventh multi-point game since the beginning of March, and only seven NHLers have more than Thomas in that span: Jack Hughes (11), Erik Karlsson (10), Cole Caufield (8), Martin Necas (8), David Pastrnak (8), Nick Suzuki (8) and Scheifele (8).

Thomas had a goal and two assists on Friday in Anaheim, and Sunday made him the only player in the league with two three-point games in April.

Sizzling line

Thomas was the centerpiece of what could be the hottest line in hockey, as Jimmy Snuggerud and Dylan Holloway each piled up three assists on Sunday.

The line was originally put together on March 6 in the first game after the trade deadline, and the trio has combined for 57 points in the last 15 Blues games -- that's even with Thomas missing one game due to a presumed head injury.

The line created the first goal -- which gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 12:01 of the first period -- with an effort all around the ice. Holloway sidestepped a check in the neutral zone to create an odd-man rush. Then after a net-front scramble, the puck popped out to Snuggerud, who found Thomas for a one-timer in the high slot.

After the Avalanche took a 2-1 lead, the line tied the game at 4:09 of the second period. Hofer made a key save on Nathan MacKinnon in tight, then Philip Broberg's outlet pass sprung a 3 on 2 the other way. Thomas won a race to the empty ice in the slot and finished a pass from Holloway.

Since March 6, the Blues have outscored opponents 15-0 with the line on the ice at 5 on 5. St. Louis has controlled 55.7% of the shot attempts, 55.8% of the shots on goal and 56.7% of the expected goals with them on the ice since the deadline, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Buchnevich back in

Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich returned to the lineup after he was scratched on Friday night in Anaheim, as Jim Montgomery called Buchnevich's absence due to "maintenance." Buchnevich was back in Sunday night in Colorado on the fourth line with the two other players that were back for the Blues: Alexey Toropchenko and Jack Finley.

As those three players returned, Nathan Walker, Otto Stenberg and Oskar Sundqvist were scratched against the Avalanche.

Buchnevich finished with 15:10 time on ice, including 3:13 on the power play and 2:32 while shorthanded. In his last game on Wednesday in Los Angeles, Buchnevich played 18:37 against the Kings, including a shift in overtime.

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