ST. LOUIS — Pavel Buchnevich had two goals and an assist, Ville Husso stopped 26 shots and the St. Louis Blues beat the Washington Capitals 5-1 Friday night.
Torey Krug, Oskar Sundqvist and Ivan Barbashev also scored to help the Blues improve to 8-2-2 in their last 12 games, and 10-0-1 in their last 11 at home. Ryan O’Reilly and Robert Thomas each added two assists.
Daniel Sprong scored for Washington, which lost in regulation for the third time in its last 12 games (6-3-3). Ilya Samsonov gave up four goals on 16 shots through two periods, and Zach Fucale stopped all seven shots he faced in the third.
Buchnevich, Sundqvist and Barbashev scored in the second period to give St. Louis a 4-1 lead. The scoring burst came on just six shots on goal in the period against Samsonov.
Samsonov has allowed three or more goals in six of his eight starts since the beginning of December.
Buchnevich put St. Louis ahead 2-1 with a one-timer from the top of the slot at 9:08. It was the first shot on goal in the period by the Blues, who earlier had a power-play chance. Sundqvist popped in a rebound of a shot by Justin Faulk with 2:40 remaining, and Barbashev’s goal on a quick wrist shot from the slot came just before just before time ran out and the horn sounded in the period.
Buchnevich added his 13th of the season, an empty-netter with 3:52 left in the third.
Washington took the lead 2:02 into the game as Sprong snapped a wrist shot from the right circle after getting a pass from along the boards by Aliaksei Protas.
St. Louis tied it 1-1 when Krug scored with 7:50 left in the period. Krug received a nifty cross-ice pass from Thomas in the left faceoff circle and he lifted a wrist shot high for the goal.
Husso was strong in the first period for the Blues. He foiled a Capitals 3-on-1 break with a left skate kick save at 1:53. Washington had numerous scoring chances in the first 10 minutes, including one by Alex Ovechkin just 32 seconds into the game, but managed just the one goal. The Capitals didn’t get a shot on goal in the final 10:22 of the period.
Washington had been idle since a 4-3 overtime loss at home to the New Jersey Devils last Sunday. Washington was set to play Tuesday at Montreal but received an extended layoff due to the game being postponed for COVID-19 restrictions.
ROSTER MOVES
The Blues recalled D Calle Rosen from their Springfield (Mass.) AHL affiliate and was added to the taxi squad. LW Nathan Walker, who had four goals and one assist in seven games, was sent back to Springfield from the taxi squad. … Washington sent Hunter Shepard back to its Hershey (Pa.) AHL affiliate.
COVID-19 PROTOCOL
Blues RW Vladimir Tarasenko, D Scott Perunovich and FJake Walman were added to the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols list. Tarasenko, who missed his first game of the season, had six goals and five assists in his last 11 games. The Blues have had 17 players on the COVID-19 protocols this season. … Washington D Martin Fehervary and D Dennis Cholowski were back on the active roster and out of COVID-19 protocols.
LAST TIME
Friday’s game was the first meeting between the teams since Oct. 2, 2019. On that day, the Blues raised their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters.
ICE CHIPS
Capitals RW Tom Wilson played in his 600th career game. … Blues D Robert Bortuzzo returned to play after missing three games being on the COVID-19 protocols list.
INJURIES
The Capitals placed RW T.J. Oshie (non-COVID illness) and C Nicklas Backstrom (non-COVID illness) on injured reserve. Neither made the trip to St. Louis. Their last game played came on Dec. 31 in Detroit.
UP NEXT
Capitals: At Minnesota on Saturday night.
Blues: Host Dallas on Sunday.
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