Brandon Saad netted a hat trick to snap a 19-game goal drought and lead the host St. Louis Blues past the Ottawa Senators 4-0 Friday.
Jordan Binnington made 20 saves for his 18th career shutout.
Brayden Schenn also scored for the Blues, who have won four of their last five games to move two games over .500 (in terms of point percentage) for the first time since Oct. 24.
Anton Forsberg made 21 saves in defeat for the Senators.
The Blues opened the scoring when Dylan Holloway’s outlet pass sent Schenn down the middle on the breakaway, which Schenn converted with a move to his backhand 7:26 into the game.
Saad boosted the St. Louis lead to 2-0 with 4:10 left in the first period. He raced down the ice to beat Ottawa defenseman Nick Jensen to a rolling puck, then he sealed him off and put a backhand shot through Forsberg’s pads.
That was Saad’s first goal since Nov. 14.
The Senators stepped up their pressure in the second period. Brady Tkachuk burst up the left wing for a close-in shot, but Binnington made a pad save.
Nick Cousins got a chance to score into an empty net with the goalie out of position later in the period, but he lost control of the puck trying to tuck it inside the right post.
After Saad scored his second goal at 14:15 of the second, the Senators believed they reduced their deficit to 3-1 with Thomas Chabot’s blast from atop the left circle in the period’s final minute. But the Blues erased it with a successful offside challenge.
The Blues killed off an Ottawa penalty in the third period and held the Senators to seven shots overall in the period. Chabot had the best chance to break the shutout, but he failed to convert a clean break-in.
Saad made it 4-0 with 1:53 left to play by scoring off a two-on-one rush with Alexandre Texier. He took an outlet pass from Colton Parayko, raced up the left wing and used Texier as a decoy to beat Forsberg. He completed his third career hat trick, his first since Oct. 5, 2017.
–Field Level Media
