Brayden Schenn scored the tiebreaking goal on a early in the third period as the visiting St. Louis Blues pulled away for a 5-2 victory over the slumping New York Rangers on Monday night.
The Blues earned the win a day after firing coach Drew Bannister and replacing him with Jim Montgomery. The Boston Bruins fired Montgomery last week, and he signed to a five-year deal with St. Louis on Sunday.
Schenn scored his fourth goal this season 72 seconds into the final period thanks to a heads-up play in the St. Louis defensive zone during four-on-four action. After his teammates prevented the Rangers from cycling the puck in the zone, defenseman Scott Perunovich slid a cross-ice pass through the neutral zone into the offensive zone, and Schenn got by Mika Zibanejad and defenseman Braden Schneider and scored for a 3-2 lead.
Zack Bolduc recorded his first career two-goal game, Jordan Kyrou also scored and former Ranger Pavel Buchnevich added an empty-netter as the Blues scored five goals for first time since Oct. 24. Schenn also assisted on Kyrou’s goal and Dylan Holloway collected two assists as the Blues finished with a season-high 43 shots on goal.
St. Louis backup goalie Joel Hofer made 27 saves, including a sprawling pad save on Kaapo Kakko about four minutes in. The Blues had gone 2-6-1 in their previous nine games.
Will Cuylle registered his first career two-goal game but the Rangers dropped a third straight game for the first time this season. New York, which played without Chris Kreider (upper-body injury), fell to 7-7-0 since opening the season on a six-game points streak (5-0-1).
New York goalie Igor Shesterkin stopped 38 shots.
Cuylle opened the scoring with 11:13 left in the opening period when he redirected a left point shot from Kakko with his skate during a scramble in front. Kyrou scored nearly three minutes later on a shot from between the circles after Schenn intercepted a pass behind the net by Zibanejad.
Bolduc gave St. Louis a 2-1 lead 4:30 into the second period by lifting a loose puck into the net during a scramble in the crease when the Rangers could not clear. Cuylle tied it about three minutes later by cutting to the net and putting Zibanejad’s pass into the vacated right side of the net while falling to the ice.
After Schenn scored, Bolduc beat Artemi Panarin to a rebound in the slot and sent a one-timer by Shesterkin for a 4-2 lead with 11:35 remaining.
