Christmas marked a turning point for the St Louis Blues last season as they went from last place at the holiday to winning the Stanley Cup.
Heading into the three-day break this year, the Blues are on top of the Western Conference and look more than ready to defend their title.
Brayden Schenn on Monday scored twice in St Louis’ four-goal first period as the Blues won their sixth straight game, 4-1 over the Los Angeles Kings.
Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA Today
“It’s crazy what a little bit of winning and confidence can do to a hockey team and, you know, obviously we’re feeling it as a group right now,” Schenn said after the Blues improved to 55-20-11 in the regular season since last Christmas. “We believe in one another coming to the rink.”
Vince Dunn had a goal and an assist, while Jaden Schwartz scored on the power play for the Blues.
Jordan Binnington made 29 saves in his first start since Dec. 16. Alex Pietrangelo and David Perron each had two assists.
Alex Iafallo had a power-play goal and Jonathan Quick made 24 saves, but the Kings lost their third in a row.
Kings coach Todd McLellan was wary about the last game before time off and his concerns were justified when the Blues scored four times in the first 12 minutes, 21 seconds.
Schenn opened the scoring at 4:51 and wrapped the flurry by getting a power-play goal that gave St Louis a 4-0 lead with his 17th of the season.
Schenn has the same number of goals in 38 games this year as he had in 72 games last season.
“I’ve started getting some puck luck, which has been huge,” said Schenn, who has three goals and two assists in his past three games. “Every player definitely needs that, and just try and shoot the puck at the right time, and it’s been going in.”
Schwartz tipped in Pietrangelo’s shot on the power play for a 2-0 lead at 5:43, before Dunn made it 3-0 at 11:22.
Everything seems to be clicking for the Blues, who have won eight straight games against Western Conference opponents.
The power play is five of 12 in the past four games after needing just 33 seconds to convert two chances against the Kings, but Schenn said that the lessons from last season’s turnaround would keep the Blues focused on the next game, not the bigger picture.
“I mean, we’re obviously not going to get too far ahead of ourselves by any means,” Schenn said.
“It’s very hard to repeat as we’ve seen, but we feel — just kind of what we’ve been through last year — we don’t try and get too high or low, just cause it can eat away at you,” he said.
Iafallo got the Kings on the board when he redirected Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line with 1:07 left in the opening period.
Los Angeles controlled long stretches of play in the second and third periods, but St Louis were able to protect their comfortable lead to win for the 10th time in 13 games.
“I still think we could have come out of the game better had we just been responsible,” McLellan said. “Lack of a good start and lack of responsibility in two face-off situations, and chase it all night against the Stanley Cup champs. That’s what you get.”
Elsewhere, the Bruins battered the Capitals 7-3, the Lightning pummeled the Panthers 6-1, the Maple Leafs held off the Hurricanes 8-6, the Wild doused the Flames 3-0, the Flyers routed the Rangers 5-1 and the Blue Jackets edged the Islanders 3-2.
The Senators sank the Sabres 3-1, the Predators pipped the Coyotes 3-2, the Canadiens crushed the Jets 6-2, the Devils downed the Blackhawks 7-1, the Canucks overcame the Oilers 4-2 and the Avalanche vanquished the Golden Knights 7-3.
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
Italian defender Marco Curto has been banned for 10 matches for racially abusing South Korean forward Hwang Hee-chan while playing for Como 1907 against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a pre-season friendly in July. Curto, who is on loan from Como to Serie B club Cesena, would serve half of the punishment immediately with the other half suspended for two years. “The player Marco Curto was found responsible for discriminatory behavior and sanctioned with a 10-match suspension,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “The player is ordered to render community services and undergo training and education with an organization approved by FIFA.” Wolves said the club would
RSS