Joel Hofer made 33 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the St. Louis Blues blanked the visiting Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Nick Bjugstad, Dalibor Dvorsky and Jimmy Snuggerud scored for the Blues, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Brandon Bussi made 28 saves for the Hurricanes, whose five-game point streak (4-0-1) came to an end.
The already short-handed Blues won despite playing without top center Robert Thomas (lower-body injury) and key defenseman Philip Broberg (concussion protocol), who were hurt in the previous game.
The Hurricanes built an early 6-2 shot advantage, highlighted by Jordan Staal’s clean break-in 25 seconds into the game.
The Blues survived an early Carolina power play and stabilized. They outhit the Hurricanes 11-3 and blocked seven shots during the scoreless first period.
Carolina had an early second-period power play and generated a dangerous shot from Sebastian Aho from the high slot. After Hofer made a shoulder save, Bjugstad, in his return from the injured list, took a pass from Otto Stenberg and scored a shorthanded goal from the right wing on a 3-on-2 break to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
The game opened up after the goal. Hofer made a glove save on Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s rebound bid during a goalmouth scramble.
Then the Blues scored off the rush again to push their lead to 2-0. Jake Neighbours cut in from the left wing, then set up Dvorsky for his point-blank goal.
Snuggerud made it 3-0 with a power-play goal. After Hofer stopped K’Andre Miller’s short-handed shot, Kyrou rushed the puck up the right wing and found Snuggerud for his trailing shot.
Hofer stopped Sean Walker on a 3-on-1 rush late in the period to keep Carolina off the board, then he made 13 saves in the third period to close out the shutout.
–Field Level Media
