The St. Louis Blues had to feel good about taking the Tampa Bay Lightning to overtime Friday night.
The visiting Lightning came to town on an 11-game winning streak, with their last loss coming before Christmas. The run included a win over the Colorado Avalanche, one of just five regulation losses in 47 games this season.
So to hold the Lightning, who led the NHL with 4.64 goals per game during those 11 games, to just two power-play goals through regulation and get to OT was an accomplishment.
However, as the puck was about to drop for sudden-death three-on-three, the Blues couldn’t help but think about their résumé this season: 0-6 in three-on-three OT and 0-2 in shootouts, including 0-6 on shootout attempts.
“Yeah, obviously you’re thinking about it when regulation ends,” forward Jake Neighbours said.
However, the Blues controlled in OT and got a goal from Jordan Kyrou and three saves from goalie Joel Hofer for a 3-2 shootout victory, becoming the last of the 32 teams in the NHL to win an OT/shootout game this season.
“It feels great,” Kyrou said. “We haven’t done that all year, so yeah, it feels good to get that one.”
It felt especially gratifying because it gave the Blues wins over two division leaders — Tampa Bay in the Atlantic and the Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan — in a span of four days. They blanked the Hurricanes 3-0 on Tuesday.
So, for the fifth time this season, the Blues will have a chance to win three straight games for the first time when they embark on a three-game road trip starting against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.
“The thing I like about the two wins is the desperation and competitive spirit that we’ve played with,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “We need to fine-tune some execution stuff offensively and defensively. But when you’re playing as hard as we are right now, and for each other, you overcome a lot of lack of execution with effort.”
There was nothing that needed more fine-tuning than the overtime execution heading into Friday’s game.
In three-on-three OT, the Blues lost to the Los Angeles Kings, Seattle Kraken, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. In those games, they had been outshot by a combined 9-4, and three of those attempts came in the loss to the Flyers.
They were much better in OT Friday, controlling the puck and outshooting Tampa Bay 4-2. Kyrou would’ve won the game if the Lightning’s J.J. Moser hadn’t gotten a stick on his attempt to end the evening.
“I did think three-on-three overtime was one of our better offensive periods of overtime that we’ve had,” Montgomery said.
It was onto the shootout.
In their two shootout losses this season, the Blues lost to the Vancouver Canucks and the Flyers. They failed to put a single shot in the net, including two by Jimmy Snuggerud and one piece from Kyrou, Brayden Schenn, Robert Thomas and Dylan Holloway.
Perhaps because of their poor fortune, Montgomery decided to wrap up Thursday’s practice with a shootout session, and the results weren’t surprising. By an unofficial count, the shooters converted just 2 of 18 attempts against Hofer and Jordan Binnington.
Some of the Blues forwards came off the ice after practice and, jokingly, complained that the two goalies have an advantage because they know all of their teammates’ shootout moves.
“They always blame the snow, too, and it’s honestly fair,” Hofer admitted. “It’s pretty snowy out there for them.”
Whether Montgomery had a premonition or not, the Blues suddenly found themselves in a shootout on Friday. And after electing to go first in their previous two shootouts this season, Montgomery said goalie coach Dave Alexander suggested they shoot second against Tampa Bay.
“It’s a little bit (of) confidence in our goaltender (Hofer) and how well he’s played,” Montgomery said. “But it’s also, ‘What do we have to lose? We’ve gone first the other times, and it didn’t work out.’ Switch it up. Not superstitions.”
In his career, Hofer was 0-2 in shootouts, allowing two goals on six shots.
“I don’t think I’ve been very successful,” he said.
However, Hofer made the first two saves on the Lightning’s Gage Goncalves and Jake Guentzel.
Meanwhile, Neighbours was denied by goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy at the other end. He acknowledged that there’s not a lot of visible net when skating down on the 6-foot-4, 223-pound Russian netminder.
“It’s a little intimidating, (but) I just didn’t execute my shot well enough,” Neighbours said.
The Blues’ second shooter was Kyrou, who was 4 for 21 on shootout attempts in his career. He’s now 5 for 22.
JORDAN KYROU SAYS THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT pic.twitter.com/aN1i7u11YP
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) January 17, 2026
Kyrou didn’t practice that move in Thursday’s practice, but it worked.
“Big goalie, hard to score on,” Kyrou said. “I just tried to move him as much as I could and raise the puck.”
Added Neighbours: “He tries that move a lot in practice and he always gives himself a hard time that he can’t finish it, so it was nice to see him get one.”
However, before the Blues could celebrate, Hofer would have to keep Nikita Kucherov, who was 14 for 49 in his career (29 percent), from scoring.
He did.
“You want those battles, and I’m lucky it went my way,” Hofer said.
Since Nov. 29, a lot has been going Hofer’s way. In that span, he’s 9-4 with a 2.06 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage. He made 34 saves through OT Friday, and both Tampa Bay goals came on the power play — one five-on-three and one five-on-four.
The Blues are feeling it in front of him.
“Yeah, and they should be,” Montgomery said. “He’s playing big in the nets. He’s making tough saves look easy, and that gives you a lot of confidence on the bench, especially the players in front of him.”
Added Hofer: “I feel good, just trying to keep building. Even during the good games, trying to take a thing or two and keep working on it. Yeah, it’s going good.”
The last two games, against elite competition in Tampa Bay and Carolina, are going the Blues’ way, too.
“Yeah, both great teams, both really competitive teams,” Kyrou said. “I thought we competed in both games.”
And a day after struggling to score in the shootout in practice, they finally did in a game.
“Yeah, we really wore out our bad moves yesterday,” Montgomery said, laughing.
Added Neighbours: “Yeah, it’s funny, the timing of that. You go through the entire team (Thursday) without anybody scoring, except a couple guys. You’re a little nervous going into (Friday’s shootout), but (Kyrou) stepped, had a big one there, and (Hofer) with three big saves.
“It just hasn’t gone our way this year but got one done — finally.”