Ottawa Senators' Ridly Greig (71) tries to score on St. Louis Blues goaltender Joel Hofer (30) as Blues' Matthew Kessel (51) tries to block him during first period NHL hockey action in Ottawa on Thursday, March 21, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
OTTAWA – Jordan Kyrou had one goal and two assists, Joel Hofer made 37 saves and the St. Louis Blues earned a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday.
The victory helped St. Louis (37-30-3) inch closer to the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.
The Blues moved ahead of Minnesota by one point and now sit only two points behind reigning Stanley Cup champion Vegas, who hold the second and final wild-card spot.
Brandon Saad, Colton Parayko and Jake Neighbours, with two goals, also scored for St. Louis, which has won five of its last six games.
Mark Kastelic and Dominik Kubalik scored for Ottawa (28-36-4), which dropped its third in a row. Anton Forsberg stopped 23 shots.
The Senators have now given up 18 goals across their losing streak.
Trailing 3-1 to start the third, Kubalik trimmed the deficit with a power-play goal 1:58 into the period. He backhanded a Shane Pinto rebound past Hofer.
Kyrou restored the Blues’ two-goal edge when he took a pass in front, spun and roofed it for his third point of the night at 5:43.
Neighbours added an empty-net goal with 1:28 left in the third period.
With Ottawa trailing 2-0 to start the second, Kastelic cut the lead in half at 4:34 of the period. Mathieu Joseph made a great cross-ice pass to Kastelic who made no mistake getting it past Hofer.
St. Louis regained its two-goal lead at 13:11 when Neighbours won the battle for a loose puck deep in the slot for his 23rd of the season.
Saad opened the scoring at 11:54 of the first period. He found of the back of the net after grabbing a Kyrou rebound in close.
Just over three minutes later, Parayko beat Forsberg glove side for his 10th of the season.
NOTES
Senators defenceman Travis Hamonic returned to the lineup after missing the last 10 games with a lower-body injury.
St. Louis centre Zach Dean made his NHL debut Thursday, replacing the injured Oskar Sundqvist. Dean played his junior hockey for the Gatineau Olympiques and was a first-round pick (30th overall) of the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2021 draft.
UP NEXT
Ottawa heads to New Jersey to take on the Devils on Saturday.
St. Louis takes on the Wild in Minnesota on Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 21, 2024.
