At some point, it was going to have to get better for the St. Louis Blues. Four straight losses and quickly fading fast down the Western Conference ladder, they needed a response somewhere. Blues played with a purpose, checked well, especially in first period; penalty kill gets the job done; new (old) top line comes through in clutch The Utah Hockey Club had the Blues' number this season winning the first two games, including a win at the Delta Center just 15 days ago. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/three-takeaways-from-blues-4-2-loss-against-utah-hockey-club] The Blues returned the favor on Sunday and grinded out a hard-fought 2-1 win to end a season-high four-game losing streak. Jordan Kyrou scored what turned out to be the game-winner in the third period, Alexandre Texier scored and Jordan Binnington was strong stopping 24 shots to help the Blues (24-25-4) get a split on the road trip after a 5-0 loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/three-takeaways-from-blues-5-0-loss-against-avalanche] Let's look at Sunday's Three Takeaways: * Played with a purpose, checked well, especially in the first period -- First periods have not been kind to the Blues this season. Or let's just say they have not helped themselves in the opening 20 minutes. The Blues have been chasing games, especially lately, trailing in five of the past six games, outscored 14-4 and only leading in one of those games, which happened to be their last win Jan. 20 against the Vegas Golden Knights. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/three-takeaways-from-blues-5-4-shootout-win-against-golden-knights] The Blues had been outscored 8-0 the past three games in the first period but on Sunday, they played forward, were aggressive, forechecking, creating turnovers and the shots on goal in the period (15-6) was reflective of the way they played in the period to establish the kind of game they were going to play here. And Texier's goal, his first since the 2025 Discover Winter Classic on Dec. 31 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/three-takeaways-from-blues-6-2-winter-classic-win-against-blackhawks], was an example of forechecking to win the puck back, from Colton Parayko, who played 24:36 after missing Friday due to illness, keeping a puck alive on what was going to be a breakout, to Alexey Toropchenko and Radek Faksa setting up Texier from the slot: When the Blues were in this building on Jan. 18, a 4-2 loss, they were dominated down 3-1 and outshot 17-6 and looked completely discombobulated. Not so on this night. * Penalty kill stood tall -- It's no mistake that the Blues' penalty kill has struggled. It came into the game 29th in the league and allowed a power-play goal in six straight games, going a woeful 8-for-16 (50 percent). But when it was called upon Sunday, it did its job, the first time since Dec. 19 against the Tampa Bay Lightning the PK was able to kill three minors in one game, a span of 19 games. It included getting two big kills in the third period on virtually back-to-back sets of minors on Ryan Suter (interference), then Mathieu Joseph (tripping). Utah (21-22-9) only outshot the Blues' PK 3-2 during its man advantages. The Blues seemed to make it a point of only allowing the exterior. * New (old) top line comes through with clutch goal -- At some point, it was bound to happen, and Jim Montgomery had no choice with the goal scoring drying up of breaking up the Dylan Holloway-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou line and reuniting Kyrou with Pavel Buchnevich and Robert Thomas, who was questionable going into the game after leaving practice early Saturday with an illness of his own. That line was generating throughout the game, but when Utah tied the game 1-1 at 3:27 on a Michael Kesselring goal from the right point to tie the game up, it was an easy opportunity for a struggling team to buckle. But the Blues went back on the attack, and Kyrou was actually robbed on a glove save by Connor Ingram minutes before he put the Blues back in front 2-1 at 7:13 off another strong keep-in, this time by Cam Fowler at the left point for Parayko to cycle it to Buchenvich, who checked the puck off the corner wall to Thomas behind the net and he found Kyrou streaking into the slot for the one-timer: There were a couple anxious moments down the stretch after Utah pulled Ingram, including a last-moment shot from the high slot off the cross bar, but the Blues deservedly took the hard-fought win. Hear what Montgomery and players said after the game: Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA5MjcwNjk1MDQ0MDY0NDYy/subscribe2024-front-banner.jpg]
