Blues score 3 in 3rd period to rally past Senators

ST. LOUIS -- Matthew Kessel broke a tie with one of three third-period goals scored by the St. Louis Blues, who rallied for a 4-3 win against the Ottawa Senators at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich and Oskar Sundqvist also scored for the Blues (8-10-7), who won for the second time in eight games (2-2-4). Jordan Binnington made 25 saves.

St. Louis was 0-8-1 when trailing after two periods.

“I think we showed the most desperation of the year so far,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “The one thing you love about playing in St. Louis and being part of the Blues is how the fans react to desperation, to hard work, second and third effort. The third period’s the best we’ve done it all year, and that’s why we got three goals. We got three goals because we were desperate and we didn’t give up a goal at the end because we were desperate defensively.”

Shane Pinto, David Perron and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Senators (12-8-4), who had won three of the first four of a season-high seven-game road trip. Leevi Merilainen made 27 saves.

“I saw 40 minutes where I didn’t mind our hockey,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Uncharacteristically, I thought we got careless and didn’t play with enough urgency in the third period. We turned over a couple pucks, we didn’t pay attention to certain details that we usually do. It was unfortunate, because our goalie gave us a game and we should have at least got a point or a win out of this game.”

Ottawa forward Brady Tkachuk had an assist in his first game since Oct. 13 after missing 20 games with a broken right thumb.

“It was nice to get back and play and not overthink anything,” said Tkachuk, the Ottawa captain, who had a game-high eight shots on goal in 17:12 of ice time. “It’s a game having the lead going into the third period, so we’ve got to find a way.

"I would have felt a lot better with a win, but it was just nice to get back. Grateful to be playing again but disappointed with the result.”

Kessel made it 4-3 at 9:19 when he backhanded a rebound in the crease. The goal capped a five-second flurry that saw Dylan Holloway get stopped by Merilainen, Pius Suter have a rebound attempt blocked by Senators defenseman Nick Jensen, and Holloway get denied again.

Sundqvist’s first of the season, in his 16th game, put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 7:59 of the second period. He collected a rebound off the end boards and banked a shot in off Merilainen from the side of the net.

Pinto tied it 1-1 at 10:11 when he swept a rebound past Binnington, who had stopped Nikolas Matinpalo from in close.

Zetterlund put the Senators in front 2-1 at 18:26. He gathered a loose puck behind the Blues net and looked as if he was going to bring it out at the right post, but he changed direction and tucked it inside the left post instead with Binnington leaning the other way.

Kyrou tied it 2-2 at 2:01 of the third period when he went to the backhand and lifted the puck into the top left corner off a Jake Neighbours cross-ice pass.

“It was just great patience by [Neighbours],” Kyrou said. “Kind of hold it and wait for the lane to open up. It was a [heck of a] pass.”

Buchnevich then gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead at 5:33, scoring on a one-timer from the right circle off a pass from Brayden Schenn on a 2-on-1.

“Every goal feels good,” Buchnevich said, “Especially now. It’s hard to score a goal. … I know 100 percent [Schenn] is going to give it to me. He doesn’t look at the net. … It’s an easy read, I know he’s a [heck of a] player. I know he wants to make a pass.”

Perron tied it 3-3 at 7:31 with a backhand from the slot after Blues defenseman Colton Parayko flubbed a pass out of the left corner.

The Senators pulled Merilainen with 2:47 remaining but the Blues held off the push by Ottawa, blocking three shots in that span.

“It’s been some tight games lately and good to come out with a win tonight,” Sundqvist said. “… This third period was probably one of our best third periods that we’ve had this season. It’s good to see the guys come together here in the third and really turn this around tonight.”

NOTES: St. Louis forward Robert Thomas had an assist, becoming the second-fastest player in Blues history to reach 300 (487 games), behind Bernie Federko (426 games). … Buchnevich’s goal was his first in 17 games and his first at even strength this season. … Zetterlund has scored in three of the past four games. … Senators defenseman Jake Sanderson had an assist to give him four points (one goal, three assists) in the past two games. He also had a game-high five blocked shots.