Blues vs. Bruins: Robert Thomas and Philip Broberg End the St. Louis Scoring Drought in a 4-1 Win

For 139 minutes and 38 seconds of hockey, the St. Louis Blues could not buy a goal. That is roughly the runtime of a Marvel movie, minus the part where anybody saves the day. Then Robert Thomas won a faceoff, Jimmy Snuggerud leaned into a one-timer, and the Blues spent the rest of the night making up for lost time against the Boston Bruins.

St. Louis scored four straight goals after falling behind early and beat Boston 4-1 on Thursday night at Enterprise Center. Thomas and Philip Broberg each finished with a goal and two assists, Joel Hofer made 31 saves, and a team that had been shut out in back-to-back games suddenly looked like it remembered where the net was.

From Shutout Hangover to Four Straight

The night started like the previous two. Hofer tried to move the puck up the boards, Casey Mittelstadt jumped the pass, and his feed from the left side found James Hagens, who redirected it past Hofer's glove at 5:28 of the first. Boston led 1-0, and the Blues were staring at a third straight blank.

The power play bailed them out. At 15:43, Thomas pulled a right-circle draw back to Broberg, Broberg walked it to the middle, and Snuggerud got just enough of a one-timer from the left circle. It was his seventh goal of the season, and per NHL.com it was the Blues' first goal in a span of 139:38. Snuggerud admitted it was not exactly a perfect strike.

"I didn't get a hold of it really well, but fortunately it went in," Snuggerud said.

From there, the Blues took over. Early in the second, Connor McMichael emerged from behind the net and spotted Broberg with acres of room in the high slot. Broberg's wrister went in bar down, top corner, at 5:17 for a 2-1 lead. At 12:08, Justin Barron hit Thomas at the line, and Thomas carried into the high slot hunting for a passing lane before deciding to let it rip into the top corner past Jeremy Swayman. That made it 3-1, and the building finally exhaled.

Jake Neighbours put it away on the power play at 12:42 of the third. It started, again, with a Thomas faceoff win. Broberg's shot from up top got blocked, the puck stayed loose, and Neighbours tucked a backhand five-hole on Swayman for his fourth goal of the year.

Thomas and Broberg, Doing It All

Thomas was everywhere. He assisted on Snuggerud's goal and Neighbours' goal, scored the goal that gave St. Louis real breathing room, and played 18:42. Here's the funny part: he won only 9 of 22 faceoffs on the night, but the two that mattered both turned into power-play goals. That is quality over quantity in its purest form. His goal was only his second of the season, and he knew why.

"I haven't shot the puck a lot lately," Thomas said. "It was nice to get in a good area and rip it. Nice to see one go in."

Broberg played 25:55 and had a hand in three of the four goals, setting up Snuggerud and Neighbours and scoring the go-ahead goal himself. He also blocked two shots. For a defenseman, that is a complete night at both ends.

Hofer deserves his flowers too. Boston outshot St. Louis 32-18, and Hofer stopped 14 of those in the third period alone, according to NHL.com. His lone mistake turned into the Hagens goal, and he made up for it many times over.

For Boston, Hagens' tip was his fifth goal of the season, and NHL.com noted it tied him with Phil Kessel as the fastest Boston teenager in the past 20 years to five career goals. Mittelstadt, who set it up, gave credit to Hampus Lindholm for forcing the turnover. Swayman made 14 saves on 18 shots.

One Clean Faceoff Changes Everything

Snuggerud's tying goal was the hinge. Before it, St. Louis was trailing, scoreless for well over two full games, and leaning on a goalie who had just been burned by his own pass. After it, the Blues scored three more times and Boston never found an answer. Snuggerud said it was "a play we've been working on," and it showed: faceoff win, one pass to the middle, one pass across, shot. Simple stuff, executed at the exact moment the Blues needed it.

Bruins coach Marco Sturm did not sugarcoat what followed, saying "the effort today, especially the first 40 minutes, was pretty bad. That for me was the most disappointing thing."

The Numbers Behind the Breakout

• 32-18: Boston's shot advantage, which Hofer made irrelevant.
• 2 for 3: The Blues' power play, which produced the tying goal and the dagger. Boston went 0 for 2.
• 29-15: Hits, Boston's way, though it never translated to the scoreboard.
• 15-6: Blocked shots, St. Louis' way, which helps explain how the Blues survived the shot gap.

Where It Leaves Them

The Blues climbed to 6-6-1 with 13 points and 4-2-1 at home, and they closed a five-game homestand at 3-2-0. Coach Jim Montgomery was happy with the result and still wanted more: "What we want to take away from it is 3-2, but we probably should have been 4-1, and we played the elite in the League," he said. It was also the Blues' first win over the Bruins on home ice since Game 4 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final, which will play well in that building for a while. Next up is a Saturday trip to Detroit.

Boston slipped to 9-4-1 with 19 points. The Bruins carried an eight-game point streak into this two-game road trip and lost both games, scoring once in each. Sturm called out the sloppiness that crept in even during the wins. They host Chicago on Saturday.

Sometimes You Just Need to Shoot

Thomas, describing his goal, offered the most relatable line of the night: "I was looking pass. … Just kept skating and eventually I shot it." For a team that had just gone more than two full games without a goal, there might not be a better coaching philosophy. When in doubt, shoot the puck.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes and notes from the NHL.com game recap; additional details as reported by the Associated Press.