ST. LOUIS — Sooner or later, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to win a hockey game.
It wasn’t Saturday, however. The Blues continued their hot start, defeating the rival Blackhawks, 1-0, at Enterprise Center. Thanks to a third-period power-play goal by Torey Krug, the Blues pushed their early-season record to 6-1-0, concluding a four-game homestand with a 3-1 ledger.
The woebegone Blackhawks, in the aftermath of a sexual abuse scandal and with several players on the COVID-19 list, fell to 0-7-2.
The game marked the fifth victory in a row for the Blues over Chicago, but the first time the teams have met since the 2019-20 season.
Coach Craig Berube shuffled his lineup, giving defenseman Niko Mikkola his first action of the season (at the expense of Robert Bortuzzo). And sitting rookie forward Jake Neighbours for the first time (in favor of veteran Kyle Clifford).
The Blues next hit the road for a four-game trip to Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim and Winnipeg.
Berube knew going in this would be no cakewalk.
“Chicago’s always been a tough opponent for us,” he said after the morning skate. “We know that. It goes back a while. We’re not gonna get an easy game. I don’t care what their record is. It’s gonna be a hard game.”
And it was. The Blackhawks entered the night with good rankings on special teams, but near the very bottom of the league in offense and defense. Of course, the one potential equalizer could be Marc-Andre Fleury. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner as hockey’s best goalie, he entered the game with an 0-4-0 record, a 5.75 goals-against average and a save percentage of .839.
But Fleury was in vintage form Saturday, stopping 29 shots in the first two periods alone.
“You gotta out-compete Fleury,” Berube said. “You gotta really get to the net on this guy. You need second and third opportunities around the net. He makes effort saves all game.”
Trouble was the Blues weren’t getting any second shots — much less third ones. For the first period and a half, it was pretty much one and done for St. Louis on offense. Either they had no net front presence, or when they did, the luck of the bounce carried the rebound out of harm’s way.
It took Chicago nearly nine minutes to get its first shot on goal, and for the period, the Blues outshot the visitors 14-4. But Fleury, in his 21st career game against the Blues but first as a Blackhawk, kept the puck out of the net in a scoreless first period.
Even with the 14 shots the Blues did some over-passing in the opening period, and made some blind passes that went nowhere — except to a Chicago player. The best chances of the period came when Vladimir Tarasenko fed Marco Scandella on the left doorstep of the net 9 1/2 minutes in. And when Jordan Kyrou broke in on a 2-on-1. But Fleury was equal to those challenges.
Defensively, the Blues had some early turnovers deep in their own end that could have been disastrous. But they weren’t as the Blues quickly recovered to avert danger.
In the second period, the Blues had some better chances, and even had some second chances — most notably by Pavel Buchnevich, Ivan Barbashev and Clifford, in the lineup for only the second time this season. But Fleury was a big eraser.
At the other end of the ice, Jordan Binnington didn’t have as much work but was equally sharp, most notably on a Dominik Kubalik breakaway he stopped early in the second period. The Blues kept up their stout work on the penalty kill, killing two Chicago power plays in the second.
In the third period, Chicago had just killed off a St. Louis penalty when Alex DeBrincat was called for tripping Brayden Schenn behind the St. Louis net. Schenn crashed hard to the boards and was slow to get up. Once he got off the ice, Schenn made it only partly down the tunnel before he went down to both knees, writhing in pain. It looked like it might have been a hand or wrist injury.
The Blues made the Blackhawks pay on the power play, with Krug whistling in a shot from distance to make it a 1-0 game with 12:35 left in the third. It was Krug’s first goal of the season and just his third in 58 regular-season games as a Blue. Robert Thomas was net front and almost got a stick on it for a tip-in.
It was Krug credited with the goal, but Thomas certainly was a distraction for Fleury. Schenn returned to take the faceoff after the goal, but was on the ice for only 21 seconds, leaving the ice and leaving the bench area. With just under seven minutes to play, though, Schenn was back on the ice taking a shift.
For Krug, it was a special kid of day. The state of Michigan native and Michigan State University product showed up in the interview room wearing a Michigan State University baseball cap. His Spartans football team at that time was taking on the Michigan Wolverines in a battle of unbeatens and battle of top 10 teams.
Michigan State rallied for a 37-33 victory, which undoubtedly made Krug’s day — until his goal, that is.
Binnington, meanwhile, registered his first shutout since Feb. 20 2020 — also by a 1-0 score. Against Arizona. Already this season, he has outdueled what was Vegas’ stellar goalie pair from last season: Robin Lehner on Oct. 20 and now Fleury.
