Blues snap Lightning's 11-game win streak with 3-2 shootout win

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 16, 2026

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — The puck stopped here.

With a 3-2 shootout win over the Lightning on Friday night, the Blues snapped Tampa Bay's 11-game win streak and completed a sweep of the Eastern Conference's two best teams. The Blues beat the Hurricanes 3-0 on Tuesday night.

Jordan Kyrou scored the game-deciding goal for St. Louis in the second round of the shootout.

It was the first time this season the Blues won a game that went to overtime or a shootout.

Jake Neighbours and Nick Bjugstad scored for the Blues, and Nikita Kucherov and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored for the Lightning.

The Blues head out on the road for a three-game trip that will take them through Edmonton, Winnipeg and Dallas.

Creating momentum ...

The Blues survived an early onslaught by the Lightning to score twice in 30 seconds late in the first period, building a 2-0 lead. Tampa Bay began the game by outshooting the Blues 8-2, as St. Louis had to lean on Hofer to keep them in the game.

Hofer made big stops on Jake Guentzel in the slot with 5:29 left in the first period, then peered around Anthony Cirelli to snag Max Crozier's point shot with 3:39 left in the period.

Hofer's timely saves gave Neighbours and Bjugstad enough time to stake the Blues to a lead.

Neighbours found the back of the net with 2:57 remaining in the first period, as he was the beneficiary of the Lightning tying up Jordan Kyrou's attempted shot from the slot. The puck slid to Neighbours at the side of the net, and he scored his 12th of the season, which is the most on the Blues.

Just 30 seconds later, Bjugstad capitalized on a forecheck by Pavel Buchnevich that created a turnover and set up Bjugstad in the slot to beat Andrei Vasilevskiy on the near post.

It was the second straight game that Bjugstad scored a goal.

... and losing it

The Blues' 2-0 lead disappeared about midway through the second period courtesy of a pair of Lightning power-play goals. First, it was Nikita Kucherov at 9:59 and then Oliver Bjorkstrand at 11:01.

Alexey Toropchenko took a tripping penalty away from the puck when he knocked down Kucherov. The Blues — thanks to Buchnevich's work to keep the puck away from the Lightning, and Hofer's saves on Bjorkstrand and Darren Raddysh — just about killed Toropchenko's penalty, but Nathan Walker took an offensive-zone tripping penalty with 12 seconds left in the minor.

That penalty would cost the Blues two goals.

The Lightning only had 12 seconds of a 5-on-3 power play, but Kucherov needed just eight to find the back of the net. Then Bjorkstrand found space in the middle of the ice to tie the game with about nine minutes remaining in the second period.

It was the eighth multi-goal lead that the Blues have blown this season. St. Louis has come back from two goals just twice this season.

Broberg returns

Blues defenseman Philip Broberg returned to the lineup on Friday night after missing Tuesday's win over Carolina in concussion protocol. Broberg was back at practice Thursday before playing Friday.

He was back on the top pair with Colton Parayko and ran the No. 1 power-play unit in place of Cam Fowler. Broberg was initially hurt early in the first period in Vegas on Saturday when he was shoved to the ice by Mark Stone.

Tuesday was the only game all season that Broberg has missed.

The Blues were without Robert Thomas (lower-body), Mathieu Joseph (elbow infection), Pius Suter (right ankle) and Dylan Holloway (right high-ankle sprain).