Kyrou, Schenn lift Blues over Devils

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou and Brayden Schenn each had a goal and an assist and the St. Louis Blues extended their winning streak to three games with a 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night.

Pavel Buchnevich and Alexey Toropchenko also scored for the Blues, who swept the two-game season series and won for the ninth time in their last 10 homes games against the Devils. Robert Thomas had a pair of assists. Jordan Binnington made 34 saves.

The line of Kyrou, Schenn and Thomas combined for six points.

“Schenner’s awesome,” Kyrou said. “He can score, he can make plays, he can crush guys. For us just as a team, I think we’re doing a lot of the good things in the offensive zone, forechecking, we’re being super aggressive and it gives us more O-zone time with the pucks.”

Dawson Mercer and Erik Haula scored for the Devils, who had their five-game point streak snapped (4-0-1). Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves.

“I thought we had a terrible night in our own end,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought we got beat to pucks. Some of our puck play led to our goals against, turned over pucks, and I think when you turn over pucks, you know, especially against their top line a couple of times, you put yourself in a lot of trouble.”

The Blues took control with a pair of goals early in the second period.

Toropchenko broke a 1-all tie four minutes in with his fourth goal of the season. Kyrou made it 3-1 Blues less than two minutes later.

“I think we’ve just found our game as a whole unit, coming from the D-zone into the offensive zone,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. “I think we’ve been making a good emphasis on playing in the O-zone, spending time down there. I think that’s the best when the defense is playing offense, as goofy as it sounds.”

Kyrou has a three-game multipoint streak since coming back from the All-Star break and has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in his last nine games.

“Any time you have a nice little break like that, you can get a little reset in your mind and your body,” Kyrou said. “A lot of guys are feeling good right now and we’re playing well.”

Haula got the Devils back in it midway through the second after Fabian Zetterlund’s pass found him all alone in front of the Blues’ net.

“I think in the second we just got a little bit loose in our own end,” Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. “There was some bouncing pucks that led to two goals and we've got to clean up our D-zone."

Schenn’s power-play goal with 8:18 left in the third extended St. Louis’ advantage to 4-2.

Buchnevich gave the Blues the early lead with a late first-period goal, burying a feed from Ivan Barbashev with 3:28 left.

Mercer answered for the Devils 58 seconds later, roofing a rebound off Jesper Boqvist’s shot to tie it 1.

“We have a lot of good players on this team, we all know that, but looking at the effort and the competitiveness of our team right now, the attitude, it’s really good and that’s a big thing,” Blues coach Craig Berube said. “That’s what wins hockey games.”

ROAD WARRIORS

Even with the loss, New Jersey has the league’s best road record at 20-4-3. With their win at Columbus on Tuesday, the Devils became the fastest team in league history to reach 20 wins in a season, doing it in 26 games and topping the previous mark of 27 games set by Washington.

NOTES: Injured Devils F Jack Hughes (upper body) and D Brendan Smith (lower body) took part in the team’s morning skate, but did not suit up for the game. ... The Blues placed F Brandon Saad (upper body) on injured reserve and recalled F Jake Neighbours from its AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds. Saad was injured Tuesday against Florida. ... Devils C Yegor Sharangovich recorded his 100th career point with an assist on Haula’s goal. ... Binnington made his 200th career start.

UP NEXT

Devils: Play at Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

Blues: Host Colorado on Saturday night.

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