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ST. LOUIS – Even prior to their 4-0 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, the St. Louis Blues felt they had been building something.
They were on a three-game skid (0-2-1) but offensively challenged.
The Blues broke out in a big way on Friday against the Nashville Predators, with Robert Thomas leading the way with two goals, Cam Fowler had a goal and two assists and Jordan Kyrou had a goal and an assist to extend his home point streak to 13 games in a 7-4 win against the Predators at Enterprise Center.
Dylan Holloway had two assists to give him five points (three goals, two assists) the past two games, and Joel Hofer improved to 5-0-1 his past six starts with 26 saves for the Blues (17-16-4), who are 2-0-1 the past three games.
Philip Broberg, Colton Parayko (shorthanded, empty net) and Zack Bolduc also scored for the Blues, who scored a season-high four goals in the first period.
“I though the speed of the game was good,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought our habits and details, which are what you’re looking for after a three-day break like that, that we just keep getting better and I thought we did. I thought our checking skills got better, I thought we started hanging onto pucks more and I thought our passing was pretty good all night.
“I liked our entries, our middle lane driver puck support, our willingness to be patient as the game drew on. I thought we were a little impatient in the first period. I thought we were at the net.”
Let’s get into the Three Takeaways:
* Balanced scoring, led by Robert Thomas – The Blues had six different goal scorers in the game and 10 players get onto the scoresheet. That’s the way the Blues are going to be successful and win.
Thomas was a force to be reckoned with and scored two beauties.
He opened things up with a steal and score, 1:20 into the game to game it 1-0:
Bolduc scored a beautiful goal using the defenseman as a screen along with a driving Oskar Sundqvist to the net, making it 2-0 at 2:47 of the first period:
There was also a Kyrou spin-and-score from the high slot at 9:57 to make it 3-1:
And Fowler capped off the first period with a beauty of his own at 18:05 to end a wild first period with the Blues ahead 4-2:
Broberg’s snipe that ended Juuse Saros’ night at 15:29 of the second period made it 5-3:
And Thomas scored another beauty on the power play that finally put the game out of reach at 6-4 at 15:10 of the third period before Colton Parayko banked in a shorthanded, empty-net tally at 18:45:
“I thought this was one of Thomas’ best overall games,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “I thought he was effective out there. That’s what we need from him. You need your top line center to be someone that’s good at both ends of the ice. We’re lucky we have him.”
* Cam Fowler was a steal of a trade – Credit where credit is due. Doug Armstrong pulled out another terrific trade with the acquisition of Fowler, a defenseman.
He’s been nothing short of spectacular in the seven games he’s played in with a goal and four assists, a plus-6 rating and averaging 22:08.
“You see him out there, he has a smile on his face,” Montgomery said. “I think he just loves being on the ice. It’s a breath of fresh air for him, it seems like. You have to ask him to know for sure, but he’s playing great hockey for us in all situations. He really quarterbacked our power play really well tonight.”
* Zack Bolduc led the way early moving his feet – Forget Bolduc’s goal that was indeed a beauty, but the 2021 first-round pick was one of the catalysts that had his skating legs, particularly early.
He was moving fast, he was in the right spot to be able to wire a shot top shelf, left side that appeared that Saros didn’t see, and he drew a minor penalty with his hustle and speed.
“I didn’t really see my shot,” Bolduc said. “I just tried to bring the puck to the net and ‘Sunny’ did a good job there by driving the net. I (made) a great shot, but it was a good play by my linemate, too.”
Montgomery added, “He had a lot of jump, played well. His tendency is he starts off a game really strong. It was good to see him play like that throughout the game.”
