from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

The St. Louis Blues didn’t quite have their Stanley Cup lineup Sunday, but they had their championship game.

They were fast, relentless, physical and punished the Vancouver Canucks for their mistakes. The Blues also had a goalie who could match Jacob Markstrom, as St. Louis coach Craig Berube played his ace card and replaced struggling starter Jordan Binnington with Jake Allen.

Brayden Schenn’s breakaway goal at 15:06 of overtime gave the Blues a 3-2 win and a rocket-boost back into their first-round NHL playoff series against the Canucks. Now trailing only 2-1, the Blues are suddenly a more dangerous team. They now remember what winning is like.

After scuffling disinterested through the hub-city round-robin, then losing their first two games against the Canucks, the Blues hadn’t won a hockey game since the NHL shut down for the novel coronavirus in March.

“We knew they were going to come,” Canucks captain Bo Horvat said. “They’re the defending Cup champs for a reason. They know what it takes to win and they definitely weren’t going to shy away from a fight.”

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