Thomas’ hat trick propels Blues past playoff-bound Mammoth

Robert Thomas recorded his second career hat trick, lifting the St. Louis Blues to a 5-3 win over the Utah Mammoth in the regular-season finale for both teams on Thursday in Salt Lake City.

Rookie defenseman Logan Mailloux, who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Wednesday, scored the go-ahead goal with 2:57 remaining in the third period. He forced a turnover in the offensive end and backhanded a shot past Vitek Vanecek to give St. Louis a 4-3 lead.

Thomas capped the hat trick by scoring into an empty net with 38 seconds left. He also had a hat trick in a 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche on April 5.

Pavel Buchnevich also tallied, Dylan Holloway notched two assists and Joel Hofer turned aside 20 shots as the Blues (37-33-12, 86 points) headed into the offseason with their fourth straight victory.

Utah’s Lawson Crouse scored his career high-tying 24th goal of the season, Kailer Yamamoto and Michael Carcone also tallied and captain Clayton Keller and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar each had two assists.

Karel Vejmelka yielded three goals on 18 shots before being relieved by Vanecek, who stopped nine of the 10 shots he faced.

The Mammoth (43-33-6, 92 points) have lost three of their past four games ahead of their Western Conference first-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights. The best-of-seven set begins Sunday in Las Vegas.

Utah’s Dylan Guenther (undisclosed), who leads the team with a career-best 40 goals, and defenseman Sean Durzi (upper body) sat out.

Thomas turned St. Louis’ 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead in short order during the second period.

The Blues forged a tie at 8:14 of the period after Holloway’s backhanded centering feed found an unmarked Thomas in front. Defenseman Cam Fowler’s pass found Thomas on the doorstep at 11:07.

Yamamoto converted from the slot to level the contest at 3-3 with 1:08 remaining in the second period.

Buchnevich scored from the doorstep to open the scoring 3:45 into the first before JJ Peterka’s nifty touch pass set up Carcone’s conversion in the high slot with 3:05 remaining in the period.

Weegar’s shot produced a rebound that Crouse converted to give Utah a 2-1 lead just 45 seconds into the second period.

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