Blues, Leafs finding late-season success despite minimal playoff odds
The St. Louis Blues and visiting Toronto Maple Leafs will look to extend somewhat belated winning streaks when they meet on Saturday night.
The Blues (30-30-11, 71 points) are still a long shot for a playoff push, though they helped their odds with a close-fought 2-1 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
Dylan Holloway continued his strong run of play with a goal and an assist. He nabbed the game-winner with three seconds remaining in overtime, shifting from forehand to backhand to flip the puck over the shoulder of goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.
"Honestly, when (San Jose's Macklin) Celebrini had the puck, I thought there was two seconds left so I abandoned my guy and he got a good crack in the slot. That would have been my bad, but I looked up right after that and saw there was about five seconds," recounted Holloway, who has 12 points in his last 10 games. "I just stretched and kind of prayed that I could get it on net in time."
St. Louis now boasts a 9-1-2 record in March after a third consecutive victory. They have outscored their opponents 33-19 over that stretch.
"Sometimes it's just the attitude," head coach Jim Montgomery said of the team's recent turnaround. "I think we started this year thinking we were gonna be good and when it didn't happen, we stopped working -- like, all of us, and I include myself. ... We got frustrated instead of finding solutions. We're finding solutions now."
The Blues may ride the hot hand and stick with Joel Hofer in the crease after what has been an impressive string of results. Hofer has stopped 45 of 46 shots in the last two games, recording a shutout on Tuesday against Washington. It is uncertain whether Robert Thomas will return to the lineup after missing the Sharks game with an upper-body injury.
The Maple Leafs (31-29-13, 75 points) are nursing their own winning streak after a 4-3 win over the New York Rangers on Wednesday. Goaltender Joseph Woll made a season-high 40 saves to secure Toronto's first set of consecutive wins since the Olympic break.
"He came up big and battled hard and continued to be really strong," Maple Leafs alternate captain John Tavares said of Woll. "I thought he controlled a lot of pucks where there wasn't too many second and third opportunities. ... He did a really good job swallowing things up and deflecting things away from the net."
The 27-year-old netminder also registered his first-ever NHL assist in the victory. He may still be replaced by Anthony Stolarz in goal with the season winding down and Toronto all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention. Stolarz started Toronto's Tuesday win over the Boston Bruins.
The game will also mark Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube's second visit to St. Louis since the Blues fired him in December 2023. The Blues beat the Maple Leafs on that first occasion by a score of 4-2, but Toronto won their earlier encounter this season, with William Nylander providing the overtime goal in a 3-2 win.