ST. LOUIS — Robert Thomas extended his point streak to seven games with a goal and an assist, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Seattle Kraken 7-2 at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.
Zack Bolduc scored twice, Cam Fowler and Oskar Sundqvist each had a goal and two assists, and Jake Neighbours had a goal and an assist for the Blues (27-26-6), who are 3-0-1 their past four games and ended a season-long six-game homestand 3-1-2. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves.
“I just liked the way that every line looked the same on the ice,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “Checking-wise, but especially offensively, we played hard, offensive hockey, whereas if we didn’t have a play to make, we went in and put it behind, we went to work on the forecheck, we were putting it in an area where someone was skating towards that area. I thought the defensemen did a great job in the first period of holding the O-zone, hammering walls, having tight gaps, which allowed our forwards to get more offensive zone time and I think it really paid off.”
Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Kraken (25-31-4), who lost the final two games of a four-game road trip (2-2-0). Joey Daccord allowed five goals on 21 shots before being pulled for the NHL debut of Nikke Kokko, who allowed two goals on six shots.
When Seattle forward Jared McCann was asked what the Kraken were struggling with tonight, he said: “Take your pick, pretty much everything. D-zone coverage, couldn’t get a forecheck established, made it easy on them. It just looked like we didn’t have our legs tonight. It’s just overall pretty embarrassing.”
Jordan Kyrou made it 1-0 at 8:04 of the first period, using a toe-drag to get into the right circle before scoring with a wrist shot off the short side post.
Sundqvist made it 2-0 at 12:48, scoring a power-play goal from the slot off a pass from Pavel Buchnevich from the goal line.
“I think it was supposed to go to Fowler,” Sundqvist said. “I kind of felt that there was a lot of open ice right there and both ‘Tommer’ and ‘Buchy’ are such skilled players, they’re going to find you if you find open ice.
“The original play was to go over to Fowler, but it worked out in the end.”
SEA@STL: Sundqvist scores PPG against Joey Daccord
The Blues scored four times in a 6:56 span in the second period, starting with Thomas’ goal that made it 3-0 at 5:10. He batted in his own rebound with his backhand.
Bolduc then made it 4-0 at 8:23 on a wrist shot from the left circle after Sundqvist sold a shot before making a pass.
“I heard him and I saw him over on that side,” Sundqvist said of Bolduc. “Obviously a higher percentage play with him scoring than me scoring from the outside there. He was in the perfect spot.”
Fowler scored on a wrist shot from the point that made it 5-0 at 9:45 and also chased Daccord from the game.
Neighbours ended a 10-game goal drought when he beat Kokko from the right circle at 11:55 to make it 6-0.
Bolduc scored 20 seconds into the third period, tiping in Mathieu Joseph‘s slap shot to extend the lead to 7-0.
“The three guys on our line played well and we were skating,” Bolduc said. “Our timing was good. The D-men were just flying out there and made things so much easier for us.”
SEA@STL: Bolduc scores his second goal of game in 3rd period
The line of Sundqvist, Bolduc and Joseph combined for six points (three goals, three assists).
“They were really good,” Montgomery said. “’Sunny’ is the glue guy that connects the other guys. He’s kind of like the brains behind the operation. The other two guys can fly.”
Dunn ended Binnington’s shutout bid at 5:13, scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot off a giveaway. Schwartz made it 7-2 at 12:09.
“(Played) a more desperate team,” Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour said. “A team that’s still close to us in the standings. They’re a closer team to being in the playoffs, a team that obviously wanted it more. A desperate team that showed it and competed harder than us the whole game. The effort level was there on their end and wasn’t on our side. It trickled throughout the whole, entire game.”
SEA@STL: Schwartz cuts Kraken’s deficit in 3rd period
NOTES: Thomas has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during his point streak. … It’s the first time in Sundqvist’s NHL career (471 games) he’s had more than two points in a game. … Buchnevich has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 10 games against Seattle and extended his point streak to four games (one goal, five assists). … Joseph was plus-1 and played 15:54 with four hits in his 400th NHL game. … Binnington improved to 4-0-1 his past five starts.
