Observations From Blues' 5-3 Win Vs. Mammoth

Some are upset that the St. Louis Blues have ruined what potential top-end drafty status they had coming out of the Olympic break, some are pleased that the team had a level of compete that showed throughout these 25 games since Feb. 26.

Whatever side you're on, you're going to have an opinion on, but one thing is certain, the Blues are one of those teams that wished that the regular season didn't end for them on Thursday. That's because they finished with a season-high tying fourth straight win, closing out 2025-26 with a 5-3 win against the playoff-bound Utah Mammoth at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday. The Blues, who closed the season 37-33-12, matched a season-high winning streak done two other times and closed their season winning 17 of 25 games (17-5-3) after the Winter Olympic break, including finishing 10-2-2 in their past 14 road games (4-0-1 to close the season).

In the end, they fell four point shy of reaching the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight season, instead missing out of the second season now for three of the past four years, and there will come a time which we can go into the logistics of why they didn't reach the tournament again this year, but with their strong showing down the stretch, the Blues, who were once second-to-last in the overall standings and 14 points out of the second wild card in the Western Conference, will head into the NHL Draft lottery with the 11th spot. They also own the Detroit Red Wings ' pick, which is 15th. So they didn't do themselves any favors of drafting high this year with this strong finish but there were several parts to their game that they did find, that they can hopefully take with them into the off-season and get themselves geared up for 2026-27.

On Thursday, Robert Thomas scored his second career hat trick in a span of 11 days; Dylan Holloway finished on a torrid pace with two assists; Pavel Buchnevich reached 20 goals with one on Thursday, and Logan Mailloux potted the game-winner with 2:57 to play that held off as the game-winner. Joel Hofer made 20 saves to finish the season with 24 saves. One last time, lets look at Thursday's game observations: * Among the draft shortcomings (for those that see it that way), the Blues have themselves a top line -- For the detractors that feel this strong play was too little, too late, that this should have come sooner than it did and that the Blues ruined their chances of getting a lottery pick, first of all, let the draft lottery play out first.