St. Louis Blues' Pius Suter (22) and Dylan Holloway (81) celebrate Suter's goal as Vancouver Canucks' Filip Hronek, back right, looks on during the second period of an NHL hockey game, in Vancouver, on Saturday, March 21, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Blues keep playoff hopes alive by beating struggling Canucks 3-1

Mar 21, 2026 | 6:44 PM

VANCOUVER — Pius Suter and Pavel Buchnevich scored goals 79 seconds apart in the second period as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 Saturday to snap a two-game NHL losing streak.

Jordan Binnington stopped 14 shots for St. Louis (28-30-11).

Jordan Kyrou scored into an empty net on a power play with 48 seconds left in the third period to seal the deal.

Defenceman Filip Hronek scored on a third-period power play for Vancouver (21-40-8).

Goaltender Kevin Lankinen stopped 18 shots for the Canucks.

Suter, a former Canuck, opened the scoring at 10:17 of the second period. Lankinen stopped a Robert Thomas shot but the puck hit Suter and went into the net.

Just over a minute later Buchnevich took a shot from above the faceoff circle that found an empty corner of the net past a diving Lankinen.

Hronek cut the lead to one with a shot from the point that deflected into the St. Louis net off Blues’ defenceman Logan Mailloux.

TAKEAWAYS

Canucks: Hronek played after not practising on Friday. … Forward Marco Rossi collected an assist to extend his points streak to three goals and seven assists in five games. … Left winger Curtis Douglas, who sat out the last two games, replaced Max Sasson on Vancouver’s fourth line. … The game was 5:48 old before the Canucks registered their first shot on goal, during a power play. … Lankinen was called for a tripping penalty in the first period. It was the goaltender’s second penalty of the year.

Blues: St. Louis had lost one-goal games in Winnipeg and Calgary before arriving in Vancouver. … Defenceman Justin Holl replaced Tyler Tucker, who was injured in Thursday’s shootout loss to Calgary. … Forwards Nathan Walker, Jonatan Berggren and Oskar Sundqvist were scratched for the second consecutive game.

KEY MOMENT

The Blues had two goals disallowed with right-winger Jimmy Snuggerud and defenceman Dylan Hooloway involved in both plays. Snuggerud thought he’d given the Blues a 1-0 lead early in the second period, but Holloway was called for goaltender interference. Later in the period Holloway looked to have made it 3-0 only to have his goal called back on a Snuggerud high stick.

KEY STAT

The win kept the Blues’ slim playoff hopes alive. They are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games. They are six points back of Nashville for the final wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference.

UP NEXT

Blues: Host the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

Canucks: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2026.

Jim Morris, The Canadian Press