Jake Neighbours scores 2 goals as St. Louis Blues beat Chicago Blackhawks 4-2
CHICAGO (AP) — It was back to normal for Jordan Binnington and the St. Louis Blues after a strange couple of games.
It was more of the same for the Chicago Blackhawks.
Jake Neighbours, Pavel Buchnevich and Kevin Hayes scored in the first period, and the Blues beat the Blackhawks 4-2 on Sunday.
“We want to play this way. ... It was good we tightened it up,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said.
Neighbours also scored in the third and Binnington made 32 saves as St. Louis bounced back nicely after losing 8-3 to Nashville on Friday. Binnington went the distance in his sixth win after the Blues used two goaltenders in their previous two games and three of their last five overall.
“Mindset was just do anything I can to stop the puck. ... No think and just play hard," Binnington said.
Inconsistency remains an issue for Chicago, which lost for the sixth time in seven games. It was coming off a 4-3 overtime victory over Toronto on Friday, but it remains in search of its first win streak this season.
“Talking about it has been our only consistent thing about consistency,” coach Luke Richardson said. “We can't get it on to the ice, but we are communicating and I think that's a good thing and we have to keep doing that to hammer away at it.”
Ryan Donato and Boris Katchouk scored for the Blackhawks, and Arvid Soderblom made 24 stops.
“It's a disappointing one,” forward Nick Foligno said, “because we really felt like we were understanding of how we had success against Toronto and now we're right back in the loss column.”
Chicago got off to a sleepy start, and St. Louis took advantage.
Neighbours got free for a breakaway and held off Blackhawks defenseman Kevin Korchinski before slipping a backhand past Soderblom on the goaltender's glove side at 3:21. It was Neighbours' fourth goal in five games and No. 6 on the season.
Hayes made it 2-0 when he sent a wrist shot from the left circle over Soderblom's right shoulder at 5:27.
After Donato got Chicago on the board, redirecting an Isaak Phillips shot past Binnington at 14:45, St. Louis responded with a rare power-play goal. Standing on the side of the net, Buchnevich knocked home a slick, no-look pass by Robert Thomas for a 3-1 lead with 2:58 left in the first.
The Blues were 5 for 59 with the man advantage this season coming into the day, ranking 31st in the NHL at 8.5%.
“Overall the power play's starting to get a little mojo,” Berube said. “Puck movement's been better, more direct and getting more pucks on net.”
The Blackhawks pressed hard in the first part of the third period but came up empty and Neighbours made it 4-1 with 6:08 left. Korchinski turned the puck over behind the net and Buchnevich found Neighbours in front.
“I think I'm just moving my feet and being a hard-working player in the system,” Neighbours said. “I think if you're in the right spots at the right times you're going to get chances, you're going to get looks.”
UP NEXT
Blues: At the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.
Blackhawks: Host the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night.
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