Mailloux nets late winner, Thomas has a hat trick as the Blues edge the Mammoth 5-3 in finale

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Logan Mailloux scored the go-ahead goal with 2:57 left to play and Robert Thomas had a hat trick as the St. Louis Blues beat the Utah Mammoth 5-3 in the regular-season finale for both teams on Thursday night.

Mailloux scored unassisted on a backhand shot from 20 feet out to make it 4-3 in a back-and-forth game. Thomas’ third goal, an empty-netter with 38 seconds left, capped the scoring.

Pavel Buchnevich had the other goal for St. Louis and Joel Hofer made 20 saves.

Michael Carcone, Lawson Crouse, and Kailer Yamamoto scored for the Mammoth. Karel Vejmelka and Vitek Vanecek combined for 24 stops.

Clayton Keller assisted on two Utah goals to become the third NHL player this season with at least one assist in 10 straight games.

St. Louis struck first at the 3:45 mark of the first period when Buchnevich tapped in a wrist shot at the post. Utah equalized when Carcone snapped in the puck with 3:05 left in the first.

Crouse put the Mammoth in front 45 seconds into the second period, tapping in a deflected puck after MacKenzie Weegar fired a shot down the middle.

Thomas scored twice later in the period to help the Blues retake the lead. He leveled the score on a wrist shot at the 8:14 mark and then tipped in the puck with 8:53 left in the second.

Utah equalized again with 1:07 remaining in the second on Yamamoto’s blast down the middle.

Up next

Blues: Their season is over.

Mammoth: Visit Vegas for Game 1 of their NHL Playoffs first-round series on Sunday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl