ST. LOUIS — The Blues might as well be an expiration date, because they’re spoiling things.
Two days after beating playoff hopeful Washington, the Blues handed Western Conference bubble team Winnipeg a 3-0 loss at Enterprise Center on Sunday night. The Blues have won consecutive games for the second time in the last 10 days after losing eight of nine games following the Ryan O’Reilly trade.
Joel Hofer made 33 saves in his second start in place of the suspended Jordan Binnington to earn his second win of the season. Kasperi Kapanen (one goal, one assist) had his first multi-point game as a Blue, and Nathan Walker and Jakub Vrana also scored goals for St. Louis.
The Blues can extend their win streak to three games when they host Detroit on Tuesday night.
D for dishing
The Blues scored their first two goals on nifty passes from defensemen, as Nick Leddy picked up the primary assist on Kapanen’s goal, while Justin Faulk got one on Walker’s goal.
Leddy found Kapanen at the side of the net after Alexey Toropchenko gained the blue line, and after Pavel Buchnevich returned his blocked shot to the point. Leddy slid a pass to the edge of the crease, where Kapanen’s deflected it over Connor Hellebuyck’s left pad just 4:04 into the first period.
The goal was Kapanen’s second in as many games, and he now has four goals and an assist in 10 games since he was claimed on waivers by the Blues from Pittsburgh.
At 10:34 of the second period, Faulk found Walker on the back door for Walker’s first goal since Dec. 19 in Vancouver. Faulk joined the rush coming out of the St. Louis zone, took a pass from Logan Brown and weaved his way through the Jets zone. From below the left dot, Faulk slid a backhand pass across the slot to Walker.
That ended a 23-game goal drought for Walker, as he also spent some time as a healthy scratch.
Krug’s early exit
Blues defenseman Torey Krug was ejected from the game in the first period after arguing a roughing penalty with referee Ghislain Hebert. Krug became the second Blue to be kicked out of a game in the last three contests, as Jordan Binnington was assessed a match penalty against Minnesota on Wednesday.
Krug was given a double-minor for roughing Winnipeg forward Kevin Stenlund after Stenlund hit Blues forward Nathan Walker in the corner of the St. Louis zone. Krug and Stenlund wrestled each other to the ice after the hit, with Krug throwing a punch at Stenlund after the linesmen had already jumped into the altercation.
Stenlund was only given a single roughing call while Krug was nailed with four minutes.
When the call was announced, Krug initially laughed while seated in the box before smashing his stick against the glass. He slashed the glass twice more and was assessed a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct and given a game misconduct. When he exited the box, he threw his helmet along the ice.
As a results of Krug’s outburst, the Blues had to kill four minutes of penalties. St. Louis only allowed two shots during the extended Jets power play while also generating two shots of its own while shorthanded.
It was a throwback to Hofer’s first career NHL start last season in San Jose, when he had to kill an extended Sharks power play in his first period with the Blues.
Krug’s 16 penalty minutes were the second-most by a Blues player this season. Tyler Tucker racked up 17 PIMs in Ottawa when he receiving a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct.
No blade, no breakaway
The Blues were denied a Jordan Kyrou breakaway at 4:55 of the second period when officials blew the play dead because Hofer was missing his left skate blade.
Hofer’s blade was knocked off his skate during a Jets possession in the Blues’ zone, and play was allowed to continue as long as Winnipeg had the puck. When Nate Schmidt turned the puck over in the neutral zone to Jakub Vrana, the referees blew the whistle, just as Vrana sprung Kyrou in on Connor Hellebuyck.
According to Rule 65.2 in the NHL rulebook, “If, however, a player or goalkeeper loses or breaks a skate blade, the Referee may allow the play to be completed and then stop play.” On Sunday, officials allowed the Jets to complete their possession before the whistle was blown.
Most of the time, when skaters lose a skate blade, they hobble to the bench and have it fixed before their next shift. Goaltenders, obviously, cannot do that while play is going on.
Hofer had to go to the Blues dressing room to fix his equipment, meaning Thomas Greiss had to come into the game under odd circumstances for the second time in the last week. On Wednesday, Greiss had to replace Binnington after he was tossed against the Wild.
Greiss made one save during his 2:36 of ice time before Hofer returned with 12:29 left in the second period. Because of Greiss’ appearance, even if Hofer did not allow a Jets goal, he would not have received credit for an individual shutout.
Some fisticuffs
Blues forward Brayden Schenn got in his second fight of the season when he dropped the gloves with Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers with 2:41 left in the second period. The two players exchanged hits and slashes before fighting in the neutral zone.
Both players earned minors for slashing and majors for fighting.
Schenn’s only fight of the season before Sunday came Nov. 8 at Philadelphia against Nick Seeler. It was the first Blues fight since Feb. 23 against Vancouver, when Walker fought Sheldon Dries.
There were, of course, close calls with Binnington and Marc-Andre Fleury, in addition to Krug’s roughing call Sunday.
