Blues drop final home game before Olympic break, lose to Blue Jackets, 5-3

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 31, 2026

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — The Enterprise Center might as well been Highway 40 at rush hour with all the traffic on Saturday night.

Tips, deflections and screens were plentiful in a 5-3 Blues loss to the Blue Jackets in St. Louis' final home game before the Olympic break. Eight players scored, including Jimmy Snuggerud, Jonatan Berggren and Tyler Tucker for the Blues.

Jordan Binnington allowed four goals (Mason Marchment scored into an empty net) in his sixth straight loss.

Of the eight total goals between St. Louis and Columbus, six of them were impacted by bouncing pucks, net-front deflections or bodies that blinded goaltenders in the crease.

The Blues have two more games remaining before the break: on the road Monday in Nashville and Wednesday in Dallas. The trip will serve as the team's Dads trip before dispersing in February.

Thomas has surgery

Blues forward Robert Thomas underwent "a minor procedure on his leg," the team announced during the second intermission on Saturday night. The Blues said that Thomas should return to action after the break.

Saturday was Thomas' ninth game missed with a lower-body injury, and he'll end up missing the final 11 games before the break. Thomas was originally injured in Colorado on Dec. 31, but played five more games as his last game was Dec. 10 in Vegas.

Thomas and Dylan Holloway (right high-ankle sprain) are the only Blues players on injured reserve, and both will be out through the Olympic break. The Blues welcomed back Pius Suter from a right ankle injury on Saturday night, while Jake Neighbours missed the game with an upper-body injury.

Suter missed 15 games with his injury, while Neighbours has been battered this week. A blocked shot vs. Dallas on Tuesday forced him out of the game, and a check into the boards late vs. Florida on Thursday ruled him out of Saturday's game against Columbus.

The Blues sent forward Matt Luff back to AHL affiliate Springfield when they activated Suter from IR on Saturday. Luff participated in morning skate on Thursday and Saturday as an insurance policy against the Blues injuries.

When Thomas returns after the break, the Blues will have four games until the March 6 trade deadline.

Another one

The last Blue to score on Thursday night against Florida was also the first one to score Saturday against Columbus, as Snuggerud notched his ninth goal of the season at 7:11 of the first period to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

Snuggerud, who scored the game-winning goal on Thursday with 8.4 seconds remaining in the third period, was a game-time decision himself with an apparent lower-body injury. But in following the trend set by his teammates, Snuggerud not only player, but scored.

Neighbours, Jordan Kyrou and Oskar Sundqvist were all questionable to play against the Panthers, and each of the three forwards scored.

After Brayden Schenn initially broke up a play in the neutral zone, Snuggerud and Schenn executed a give-and-go with Snuggerud driving to the net for a finish on his forehand. It was the first time in Snuggerud's career that he scored in consecutive games.

Tied and untied

Saturday's game was tied at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3 as the teams wrestled for control of the game. Isac Lundestrom's goal in the first period came moments after a pass skimmed Robby Fabbri's skate, and Denton Mateychuk's goal at 12:54 of the first period went off Colton Parayko's stick and split Binnington's legs to give Columbus a 2-1 lead.

Berggren's power-play goal in the second period tied the game at 2, as he cleaned up the remnants of Philip Broberg's initial point shot on the power play. Kent Johnson scored a power-play goal of his own by tipping Ivan Provorov's shot.

Tyler Tucker's shot from the boards (3-3) and Damon Severson's shot from the blue line each evaded bodies on their way to the back of the net.

— Before the game, the Blues honored and recognized their five Olympians that will travel to Italy next week: Parayko and Binnington (Canada), Suter (Switzerland), Broberg (Sweden) and Dalibor Dvorsky (Slovakia).

The club also showed a graphic during the game of the five native St. Louisians playing hockey at the Games. Joy Dunne will play for the American women's team. Brady and Matthew Tkachuk, and Clayton Keller are on the men's team. Nick Saracino will represent Italy.