Sports

/

ArcaMax

Blues run win streak to 4 with 4-1 win over Kings

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on

Published in Hockey

ST. LOUIS — The Blues needed a run. It appears they might be getting it now.

With a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night at Enterprise Center, the Blues strung together their fourth straight win and kept up in the Western Conference playoff chase.

Colton Parayko, Pavel Buchnevich, Zack Bolduc and Dylan Holloway scored goals for the Blues (29-26-6), who begin a four-game road trip in Dallas on Sunday night. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves.

St. Louis entered the 4 Nations break closer to a top-five pick than to a playoff spot, but they've gone 4-0-1 since the break to push themselves back into the postseason hunt with just two games remaining before Friday's trade deadline.

Overall, the Blues have points in six straight games, and in eight of the last nine games.

Parayko keeps scoring

Parayko scored for the third time in the last four games when he whipped a shot past Kings goaltender David Rittich about halfway into the opening period. It was Parayko’s 15th goal of the season, making him just the third Blues defenseman in the last 20 years to hit 15 goals, joining Justin Faulk and Alex Pietrangelo.

Al MacInnis, Jeff Brown, Rob Ramage and Larry Sacharuk previously hit 15 goals as a defenseman in the Note.

Parayko scored from the left circle after Jordan Kyrou set him up for the second time on the shift. The first time, Kyrou sifted a pass toward the slot for Parayko, who missed the net wide in tight. The second time, after Kyrou helped recover the puck along the boards, he spotted Parayko and gifted him a shot into an open net.

Parayko entered the night tied with Zach Werenski for the most 5 on 5 goals by a defenseman with 11.

Parayko’s goal tied the game at 1 after Kevin Fiala gave the Kings a 1-0 lead by scoring on the power play just 3:43 into the game. Fiala ripped a one-timer from the right circle that chipped the post and found the back of the net. It was the first power-play goal allowed by the Blues since Feb. 6 against Florida, snapping an 8 for 8 streak.

The Blues were on the power play due to another minor penalty by forward Radek Faksa, who was called for interference. It was the fifth minor taken by Faksa in the five games since the 4 Nations break.

 

Thomas extends streak

Blues forward Robert Thomas extended his assist streak to nine games with a primary assist on Buchnevich’s goal in the first period. Buchnevich slammed home a loose puck around the net and was put in a position to do so by Thomas and Jake Neighbours whacking away.

The nine-game assist streak is the longest by a Blue since Pierre Turgeon had a 12-game streak in Dec. 1999. Thomas’ streak is tied for fifth-longest in Blues history with Doug Gilmour (Dec. 1986) and Wayne Babych (Nov. and Dec. 1981).

The nine-game point streak is the second-longest of Thomas’ career, trailing only a 17-game streak in March and April 2022.

Buchnevich, meanwhile, extended his point streak to six games, his longest streak since a nine-gamer in November and December of this season. Buchnevich almost added another goal at the end of the second period with a potential buzzer-beater slap shot on the rush, but time expired with the puck inches away from crossing the goal line.

Accepting gifts

Bolduc and Holloway each scored on fortunate plays for the Blues to extend the St. Louis lead.

About midway through the second period, Bolduc made it 3-1 when he chased down a loose puck after he spotted a Mathieu Joseph shot block before anyone else. Bolduc had a breakaway and snapped a shot past Rittich for his ninth goal of the season and fourth goal in the last six games.

Holloway scored 94 seconds into the third period with a shot from the slot that handcuffed Rittich and ricocheted off his glove hand and into the net. Holloway's goal was his third in the last four games and gave the Blues a 4-1 lead.

-- The Blues announced that they would celebrate Brayden Schenn’s 1,000th game with a pregame ceremony on March 16 before they take on the Ducks.

____


©2025 STLtoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus