OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Joel Hofer made 37 saves, Jake Neighbours scored twice and the St. Louis Blues beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Thursday night for their fifth victory in six games as they fight for the second and final Western Conference wild-card spot.
The Blues moved a point ahead of Minnesota and within two points of Vegas, with the defending Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights holding the final spot.
Hofer was outstanding in the first period, making a behind-the-back save on Jakob Chychrun and another big save on Brady Tkachuk. The 23-year-old goalie admitted he exchanged a few words with Tkachuk that probably didn’t sit well with the Ottawa captain.
“I love playing the game,” Hofer said. “So, these are obviously fun games and especially games where you get a lot of shots and a lot of high chances it’s always fun making, you know, big saves for the team.”
Ottawa interim coach Jacques Martin said Hofer was the difference in the game.
“There’s no doubt when you look at the number of chances we had,” Martin said. “I think it was 22-12 in our favor.”
Jordan Kyrou had a goal and two assists, and Brandon Saad and Colton Parayko also scored.
“Every game for us is important right now,” Saad said. “For us it’s just focusing on one night at a time and any time we can win and kind of gain points it gives us a good feeling in here and it’s been fun as of late.”
Mark Kastelic and Dominik Kubalik scored for Ottawa, and Anton Forsberg stopped 22 shots. The Senators have lost three straight.
After Kubalik pulled Ottawa to 3-2 on a power play 1:58 into the third period, Kyrou took a pass in front, spun and roofed a shot for his third point of the night at 5:43. Neighbours added an empty-netter.
“The one in the third was big I thought,” Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. “To be able to come back after that power-play goal. They come back a couple minutes later and score and that was a big response from our group to kind of settle things down on the bench.”
St. Louis center Zach Dean made his NHL debut, replacing the injured Oskar Sundqvist. Dean played junior hockey for the nearby Gatineau Olympiques.
UP NEXT
Blues: At Minnesota on Saturday.
Senators: At New Jersey on Saturday night.
