St. Louis Blues' Jake Neighbours (63) moves in to score Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen as Canadiens' David Savard (58) Joel Armia (40) and Kaiden Guhle defend during third period NHL hockey action in Montreal, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes
MONTREAL – Jordan Kyrou scored twice and Torey Krug produced four assists as the St. Louis Blues handed the Montreal Canadiens a convincing 7-2 loss on Super Bowl Sunday at Bell Centre.
Robert Thomas had a goal and two assists, Jake Neighbours pitched in a goal and one assist, while Colton Parayko, Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker also scored for St. Louis (28-21-2). Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for the Blues, who also beat Buffalo 3-1 on Saturday.
St. Louis has won seven of its last eight games.
Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored for Montreal (21-23-8), while Jake Allen stopped 27 shots. Suzuki extended his point streak to seven games while linemate Cole Caufield’s streak of 11 games came to an end.
The Canadiens lost their second in a row after a 3-2 loss to Dallas on Saturday and fell to 1-9-0 in the second game of back-to-backs this season.
The Blues went 3-for-5 on the power play. The Canadiens were 0-for-3.
St. Louis took the lead early and never looked back.
Just 25 seconds into the game, Toropchenko cruised around Jayden Struble down the right wing with a deke between his own legs before cutting to the net and beating Allen for a highlight-reel goal.
Parayko gave the visitors a 2-0 lead 5:05 into the first period with a point shot off the post and in.
Seconds later, Blues forward Sammy Blais laid a hard hit on defenceman Jordan Harris while the latter was already falling along the end boards, appearing to connect near his head.
Harris also hit his head on the ice and couldn’t stand up after the incident, needing help to get off the ice. The Canadiens said he would not return due to an upper-body injury.
Blais, meanwhile, received a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct.
The Canadiens were unable to make the Blues pay until just after the five-minute power play expired, when Juraj Slafkovsky set Suzuki up with an open cage after a cross-ice pass to cut the lead in half at 10:23.
Kyrou scored a power-play goal at 15:20 of the first to give St. Louis a 3-1 lead heading into the break.
Despite an evenly-matched second, Walker scored with 2:11 left in the period to put the Blues up by three.
Thomas added to that advantage with a power-play goal just 31 seconds into the third.
Armia got one back for Montreal at 3:06 with a deflection, but Neighbours regained the four-goal St. Louis lead with yet another power-play marker at 7:14.
Kyrou made it 7-2 with a shot that ricocheted off the end board and in off Allen, who had an afternoon to forget against his former team.
The Canadiens appeared to score with a minute left. However, Neighbours and Johnathan Kovacevic dropped the gloves at the same time the puck crossed the line. The officials ruled there would be no goal after review.
LINEUP CHANGES
Forward Joshua Roy, recalled from American Hockey League affiliate Laval, entered the Canadiens lineup for Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who exited Saturday’s game with a lower-body injury and was placed on injured reserve Sunday. The 20-year-old Roy of Saint-Georges-De-Beauce, Que., has one goal and one assist in seven games this season.
Harris replaced Arber Xhekaj on the blue line after spending two games as a healthy scratch before exiting the game.
UP NEXT
Blues: Wrap up a three-game road trip Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Canadiens: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday to end a three-game homestand.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 11, 2024.
