Blues score 3 in 2nd period to pull away from Blackhawks

CHICAGO –– The St. Louis Blues got second-period goals from Alexey Toropchenko, Jordan Kyrou and Cam Fowler en route to a 5-3 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Saturday.

Despite the win, the Blues were eliminated from contention in the Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Los Angeles Kings shut out the Edmonton Oilers 1-0 earlier in the day.

“Realistically, LA wasn’t going to lose five in a row,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “I’m not going to really reflect on the team right now, but I can reflect on my own experience. It is the first time I missed the playoffs. I know I’m going to learn and grow from it because I realize some of the errors I’ve made and maybe some of the ways I didn’t stick to the way I believe to build a team throughout the year.

“This group, when we play the right way, we tend to play really well and tend to keep pucks out of our net and tend to win games by 4-2.”

Tyler Tucker and Jonatan Berggren each had two assists for the Blues (34-33-12), who have won three of five. Joel Hofer made 31 saves.

“Yeah, obviously I think since we came back from the (Olympic) break we’ve been trending in the right direction and playing some good hockey,” Tucker said. “Just keep doing that for the next three games and go out the right way.

“Obviously we’re trying to build something here. We didn’t get what we wanted this year. I think these next few games are so important for younger guys, getting experience going into next year.”

Ilya Mikheyev scored twice, and Ryan Greene scored for the Blackhawks (28-38-14), who have lost three in a row and eight of nine (1-7-1). Arvid Soderblom made 23 saves.

“I would say there’s probably a fragility to our team right now, more than even fatigue,” Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. “I think some guys are starting to really probably struggle a little bit. The issue with where we’re at is we don’t have guys to lean on to pick you up a little bit when you’re struggling. We’re kind of all struggling together. So, we’re grinding through it. These are hard, hard, hard lessons, man, but it’s also life isn’t easy. You never have the opportunity to learn from it if you don’t go through it.”

Jimmy Snuggerud gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 9:26 of the first period. Tucker chased the puck into the left corner and sent a pass through the crease to Snuggerud on the doorstep in front.

Greene tied it 1-1 at 15:07 with a snap shot off a Connor Bedard pass from the right face-off circle that beat Hofer to the blocker side.

“Obviously not the season we wanted,” Greene said. “It's a young group in here, and we're going to go through the ups and downs together. All of us being here for the second half of the season especially and going through this together, it's only going to make us stronger heading into next year, getting a taste of what we need to do to come out on top of these games.”

Mikheyev put Chicago up 2-1 at 3:04 of the second period. He caught a pass from Sacha Boisvert in stride into the offensive zone and buried a wrist shot from just outside the left circle low to the glove side. Boisvert's assist was his first in the NHL.

Toropchenko evened the score 2-2 at 4:10, collecting a stretch pass from Pius Suter and lifting a backhander over Soderblom's glove on a breakaway.

“We started in our D-zone off the face-off,” Toropchenko said. “It was great plays by (Suter) and (Oskar Sundqvist) and our 'D’s. I saw the broken play, and I just decided to take off. Then (Suter) gave me a great pass, and I got the breakaway.”

St. Louis took a 3-2 lead on a power play at 12:06. Kyrou won a puck battle along the left boards against Blackhawks defenseman Wyatt Kaiser, curled into the left circle and snapped the puck past Soderblom’s glove.

Fowler made it 4-2 at 17:20 when he chipped the puck over Soderblom's blocker from low in the right circle.

Dalibor Dvorsky pushed the lead to 5-2 at 7:04 of the third period. Jake Neighbours sent a cross-ice pass to Dvorsky in the right circle, where he buried a one-timer.

Mikheyev scored into an open net off a spinning pass from Tyler Bertuzzi at 13:35 to secure the 5-3 final. The goal was Mikheyev's 200th point in the NHL (98 goals, 102 assists).

Chicago played without defenseman Ethan Del Mastro, who was a late scratch because of an undisclosed injury, and forwards Frank Nazar and Andrew Mangiapane both left the game with injuries. 

Nazar, who missed 14 games in December and January because of a broken jaw, left the game early in the second period after taking a deflected puck to the face. Mangiapane left the game in the middle of the third period after sliding into the net in the offensive zone. Blashill said he believed Nazar avoided a "worst-case scenario” and that Mangiapane and Del Mastro were both day to day.

“I thought it was a bit of a roller coaster, up and down,” said Chicago forward Sam Lafferty, who had to fill in on defense. “But it means a lot, trusting me enough to put me in that position. Some good things, some mistakes. But, yeah, overall pretty cool experience.”

NOTES: Snuggerud recorded his 44th point (18 goals, 26 assists) of the season and surpassed Jim Campbell (43 in 1996-97) and Mike Murphy (43 in 1971-72) for the 10th-most in a season by a Blues rookie. ... St. Louis has missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons.