ST. LOUIS — On the Dishonor Roll of Blues clunkers this season, three of the last four contests would make the list. There was that 7-1 loss at Calgary on Jan. 24; the 4-1 loss to Winnipeg on Jan. 29; a Thursday’s 7-4 pratfall to New Jersey.
Ugly hockey to be sure, but the Blues avoided making it four of five Saturday, stemming the tide with an authoritative 5-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks at Enterprise Center.
Coach Craig Berube bemoaned the team’s lack of emotion against New Jersey in what was the Blues’ first game since returning from their extra-long All-Star break. With the rival Blackhawks in town, that wasn’t an issue.
The crowd was into it, and so were the Blues, who improved to 27-14-5 and avoided losing three in a row at home for the first time this season.
Ville Husso was back in goal and helped restore order, improving to 8-1-0 at home this season.
You won’t see much of Husso or the Blues at Enterprise for a while. Eight of their next nine contests are away from home, starting with a contest Tuesday in Ottawa.
On Saturday, Berube re-aligned his power-play units. And in terms of 5-on-5 play, had Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou playing on separate lines for the first time since Dec. 4.
On defense, Marco Scandella (lower-body injury) missed his first game of the season — he had been the last Blue to have played every game this season. He was replaced by Jake Walman, playing in only his third game since Dec. 7.
Goals by David Perron and Dakota Joshua staked the Blues to a 2-0 lead after the first period. Perron’s ninth goal of the season and fourth power-play score got things going. Saying the power play had grown stale, Berube separated Perron and Vladimir Tarasenko as wings — or flanks — on the top unit, which is rare.
With Connor Murphy off for holding Oskar Sundqvist, Justin Faulk maintained possession out near the right point, then found Perron in the right circle. Perron beat Marc-Andre Fleury far side at 8:19 mark.
It was Perron’s first goal since the Winter Classic and just his second goal since Nov. 24, in Detroit — the day before Thanksgiving. For Faulk, the assist gave him five points in his last six games.
Three minutes later, Joshua made it 2-0 Blues with his second goal of the season and third of his young career. Looking for more out of his fourth line, Berube benched Tyler Bozak and inserted him at center on the fourth line following his call-up from Springfield.
So far the move is paying off. Klim Kostin scored Thursday against New Jersey and Joshua on Saturday, giving the Blues’ fourth-line goals in back-to-back contests for the first time since early December.
On the play, Torey Krug shot from the point, and Joshua skated in front of Fleury with a moving screen. That movement may have led to the rebound, which Joshua poked in with a backhand.
For Krug, the assist was his seventh in eight games.
So the Blues seemingly were in great shape with a 2-0 lead and all the momentum entering the second period — which has been their best period this season. Then again, the last time the Blues held a 2-0 lead after one period against Chicago, they ended up losing 3-2 in overtime on the day after Thanksgiving (Nov. 26) in Chicago.
Well, before some fans could return from the concession stand with a fresh beer to start the second period, it was a 2-1 game.
First Nikko Mikkola went off for holding at the 1:45 mark and then Pavel Buchnevich took a seat for high-sticking 39 seconds later. That meant the Blues had to kill off 1:21 of a 5-on-3 disadvantage — the fifth time this season they’ve faced a 5-on-3.
(Conversely, the Blues entered the night as one of only two teams — the New York Islanders the other — not to have had a 5-on-3 power play this season in the NHL.)
In any event, it didn’t take long for the Blackhawks to cash in on the 5-one-3. Just 13 seconds in, Dylan Strome got the puck net front and got one by Husso.
It stayed 2-1 until the closing moments of the second period. Buchnevich stripped the puck from Patrick Kane along the right boards, beginning a sequence that culminated with a between-the-legs pass from Thomas to Vladimir Tarasenko in the right circle.
A silky wrist shot by Tarasenko beat Fleury stick side to make it a 3-1 game with just 41 seconds left in the second. It was Tarasenko’s 16th goal of the season, and a huge score for the Blues.
A little more than seven minutes into the third period, Sundqvist gave the Blues a little more cushion with his third goal of the season. As was the case with Joshua’s goal it came off a rebound — this time from a quick Mikkola shot from outside the right circle.
But wait. There’s one more. Kyrou scored his 18th of the season to make it a 5-1 game with 4:22 left. Brayden Schenn did all the heavy lifting on this one, winning a puck battle behind the net and then dishing out front to Kyrou, who at first couldn’t get a handle on the puck but then pivoted and scored.
Husso didn’t get a ton of work, facing a season-low 16 shots on goal. But he made several highlight reel saves, the last of which was denying Seth Jones’ backdoor attempt on a 2-on-1 rush with just under eight minutes to play.
