Blues stay hot, add to Senators' woes

[March 22, 2024]  Jake Neighbours scored twice and Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists to lead the visiting St. Louis Blues past the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Thursday night.
 
Brandon Saad had a goal and an assist and Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues (37-30-3, 77 points), who won for the fifth time in six games. 

Mar 21, 2024; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; St. Louis Blues center Robert Thomas (18) moves the puck past Ottawa Senators center Shane Pinto (57) in the first period at the Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

Ottawa (28-36-4, 60 points) outshot St. Louis 39-27, but Joel Hofer made 37 saves for the Blues.

Mark Kastelic and Dominik Kubalik scored for the Senators, who lost their third straight game. Anton Forsberg allowed four goals on 26 shots.

After Hofer denied Tim Stutzle's break-in at one end, the Blues scored at the other end to take a 1-0 lead with 8:06 left in the first period. Jordan Kyrou fired a slap shot from the center point and Saad knocked the rebound into the open side of the net.

Parayko doubled the Blues' lead to 2-0 with 5:03 left in the period by going to the net to convert Kyrou's centering pass from behind the goal.

The Senators outshot the Blues 12-7 in the first period but Hofer kept them off the scoreboard. He made a rolling leg kick to stop Jakob Chychrun and a lunge to his left to shut the door on Brady Tkachuk.

Ottawa cut its deficit to 2-1 with a three-on-two rush 4:34 into the second period. Kastelic burst up the right wing and converted a cross-ice pass from Mathieu Joseph.

St. Louis restored its two-goal lead with 6:49 left in the period when Neighbours whacked in a rebound during a wild goal-mouth scramble.

The Senators earned a power play 19 seconds into the third period and cashed in with Kubalik's weak-side rebound conversion to cut their deficit to 3-2.

Kyrou answered with a turnaround shot from the low slot to increase the Blues' lead to 4-2 at the 5:43 mark. Neighbours sealed the win with an empty-net goal with 1:28 left.

--Field Level Media

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