LDN - Sports

Hutton, Blues blank potent Penguins

[January 25, 2017] PITTSBURGH -- It was a clash of styles -- Pittsburgh's skill and speed against St. Louis' heavy, physical brand of play.

Heavy won, with assistance from goalie Carter Hutton. He made 34 saves for his second shutout of the season and sixth career as the Blues ended a three-game slide Tuesday by stifling the top offense in the NHL for a 3-0 victory against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

"We're not built like Pittsburgh," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "So our (game) is just attending to defensive detail, and then our offense flows from there."

St. Louis scored in each period.

"It's a huge win," said Ryan Reaves, who scored in the second. "Obviously, this month hasn't been going as well as we've wanted. It's kind of been a real tough month, so to get a win, especially on the road against a really good team, it's a jumpstart."

Not only did Hutton stop all the Penguins' shots, but St. Louis (24-19-5) also used its smothering style against the Pittsburgh offense, which averages 3.6 goals. It held Pittsburgh to 0 for 6 on the power play.

"The power play was a microcosm of our overall game," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said after his team generated 11 shots with a man-advantage.

The Blues are 7-1-2 in their past 10 games against the Penguins.

Pittsburgh (30-12-5) had won four games in a row, scoring an average of six goals, and seven straight at home, scoring 5.3 goals in those contests.

Hutton (7-6-2) started -- and rookie Pheonix Copley dressed as his backup -- because the Blues wanted to give No. 1 goalie Jake Allen a mental and physical breather after a period of struggling.

Allen, who stayed back in St. Louis for Saturday's loss at Winnipeg and watched in street clothes Tuesday, is scheduled to start Thursday at Minnesota -- unless Hutton's performance changed the plan.

"It's a big win," Hutton said. "Tough building to play in. We obviously knew we had our hands full coming in. I thought we did a great job all night. I think we took too many penalties, obviously something we don't want to get in the habit of, especially against a team like that. That said, our PK did a great job, so that's something to build on."

Hutton got all the goal support he needed early.

Colton Parayko gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 14:16 of the first with a power-play goal. He blasted a slap shot from the top of the left circle that squeaked between the pads of goaltender Matt Murray.

"Getting the lead just sets the table for the way we play and makes us more comfortable," Hitchcock said.

Reaves increased the Blues' lead to 2-0 at 15:43 of the second. He swooped in from the left point, shook off defenseman Justin Schultz's attempt to stall him and banked the puck in off Murray's body.

[to top of second column]

"I try that move all the time in practice, and I put it 10 feet over the net, so it was nice for that one to go in, finally," Reaves said.

Pittsburgh came back to win seven times this season when trailing after two periods, but that wasn't happening in this game.

"I think if we could have scored a goal, it could have given us some juice," Sullivan said.

St. Louis pushed its lead to 3-0 at 14:33 of the third when Scottie Upshall got a one-timer under Murray's stick.

"The game was a grind," Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta said. "That's the way they play. We get a game like that, we've got to make sure we bring the urgency to puck battles, to everything. We were pushing. I don't think we ever gave up. Well, after the third goal, you kind of know you're going to need something, but until then I don't think we ever gave it a breather."

Murray (17-5-1), the winner in each game of Pittsburgh's four-game winning streak, made 25 saves.

Evgeni Malkin (seven games) and Conor Sheary (four) had point streaks halted, while Penguins teammate Sidney Crosby had nine points in his previous five games. Crosby and Malkin are tied for second in the league with 54 points apiece behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid.

"I don't think we've got to change anything," Crosby said, referencing St. Louis' style. "It's something you have to be aware of, expect guys to finish their hits and maybe be a little extra physical when we're going to go in and battle for pucks, but our speed is our biggest strength and ... it's hard for guys to finish checks if you're getting by them and moving the puck quickly.

"We can't change anything based on who we play, but you also have to know what kind of game we're in for."

NOTES: Pittsburgh D Kris Letang missed his fifth straight game because of a left leg injury, but he joined his teammates for the morning skate and coach Mike Sullivan said Letang has made "significant progress." ... D Brian Dumoulin returned to the Penguins lineup after being activated from injured reserve. He missed 10 games after surgery for a broken jaw. ... To make room on the roster, Pittsburgh returned D Cameron Gaunce to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. ... St. Louis D Jay Bouwmeester returned after missing one game because of a lower-body injury. ... Blues coach Ken Hitchcock broke up his top line, moving LW Jaden Schwartz to the second line and elevating C/LW Robbi Fabbri. ... C Patrik Berglund dressed in his 603rd Blues game, tying Larry Patey for 10th on the team's all-time list. ... RW Nail Yakupov played after being a healthy scratch the previous two games. ... Pittsburgh scratched RW Tom Kuhnhackl and D Steve Oleksy; the Blues scratched RW Dmitrij Jaskin, D Carl Gunnarsson and G Jake Allen.

Back to top