Blues pull away from Blackhawks for 5th straight win 

ST. LOUIS -- Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker each had a goal and an assist for the St. Louis Blues, who won their season-high fifth straight, 4-1 against the Chicago Blackhawks at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Robert Thomas and Zack Bolduc also scored for the Blues (36-28-7), who are 12-2-2 their past 16 games and hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Calgary Flames having played two more games. Joel Hofer made 26 saves.

“The game on Thursday (4-3 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks), and it’s sometimes hard to come back and back that up,” Walker said. “The first period really wasn’t up to our standards. I think if (the fourth line) can kind of do the little things and chip in here and there, I think we can go a long way with it.”

Ilya Mikheyev scored for the Blackhawks (20-41-9), who have lost seven straight (0-6-1). Arvid Soderblom made 21 saves.

"I thought we competed hard," Chicago coach Anders Sorensen said. "I thought for two periods, except for that little three-minute span there in the second, but we got one back and made it 2-1. We lost some guys there, low on numbers, but guys battled hard, and I think that third goal early in the third kind of set us back obviously.

"Overall, I thought we competed hard and stuck with it for the most part."

Prior to the game, Blackhawks forward Patrick Maroon announced this season would be his last, and since he won a Stanley Cup with the Blues in 2018-19 and is from nearby Oakville, Mo., the Blues played a tribute video to honor the 14-year NHL veteran.

“Thank God they told me before the period started, so I was ready for it,” Maroon said. “The Blues didn't have to do anything tonight. I was just playing a hockey game. The people got wind of it after I talked to ‘Panger’ [Blackhawks color analyst Darren Pang]. They really made it a special night for me, and I can't thank the Blues organization for doing that for me and my family tonight. Everyone was here tonight, so it made it really special."

Thomas put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 15:13 of the second period when he batted in the puck at the left post after Jordan Kyrou popped it into the air in front.

Toropchenko finished a 2-on-1 with Radek Faksa in front to make it 2-0 at 17:20.

“We had a pretty slow start but we found a way to get back into the game by playing hard, making simple plays and playing for each other and being selfless,” Toropchenko said. “We were just on top of them and grinding, grinding, grinding. They made that play, [Cam] Fowler got the puck, he passed it to ‘Walks,’ ‘Walks’ chip it to Faksa and Faksa found me with a great pass.”

Mikheyev’s short-handed goal to cut it to 2-1 at 19:06 came after Blues defenseman Justin Faulk fumbled a puck at the offensive zone blue line that led to an odd-man rush.

Walker made it 3-1 at 1:12 of the third period with a tap-in at the left post off a rush down the right side by Toropchenko.

“They lead us with our habits,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said of the fourth line. “We’ve been preaching habits for a long time now. We’re seeing that. We weren’t very clean the first two periods, but that line was. Every time they got on the ice, we either got a face-off in their end or they changed in the offensive end. It’s nice to see them get rewarded, and they really made some high-end plays.”

Bolduc made it 4-1 at 7:43, finishing a rebound in front after Soderblom knocked down Philip Broberg’s shot.

“They played hard, they defended hard, they forechecked hard, they came at us. I don’t think we were at our best today, but give them credit, they checked well,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said.

NOTES: Chicago defenseman Alec Martinez did not return after he was run into the boards by St. Louis forward Jake Neighbours at 15:03 of the first period, and forward Jason Dickinson also did not return after getting into a scrum following the play with Neighbours. … The Blues won all three games of the season series against the Blackhawks. It’s the second time in Blues history they’ve swept a season series against Chicago (4-0-0 in 2019-20). … Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich was a late scratch with an illness. Montgomery said he’s day to day. … Kyrou had an assist to extend his point streak to five games (five goals, five assists). … Blues forward Dylan Holloway had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (three goals, seven assists).