Blues rout Canadiens, 7-2 Krug has five assists in win

In Montreal, the visiting St Louis Blues cruised past the Canadiens, 7-2, on Sunday afternoon.

Torey Krug picked up five assists in the win.

“They were giving us a lot of room up top for [Robert Thomas] and Torey to kind of just get the middle and try to get some shots,” the Blues’ Jordan Kyrou said. “We were shooting the puck, we were getting good lanes there, so we were getting good bounces as well.”

Jordan Binnington made 30 saves in the win.

St. Louis improved to 28-21-2.

“I think we’re really coming together on the ice as a group,” Kyrou said. “We’re really playing for each other out there and we kind of just all have a little swagger right now, a little confidence going, which definitely helps as well.”

The Blues hit for three power play goals in the win.

“You can’t give that power play that many looks, and they executed pretty well against us,” Montreal’s Nick Suzuki said.

Alexey Toropchenko staked the Blues to a 1-0 lead with 25 seconds gone in the opening stanza.

“A pretty sweet goal,” St Louis’ Robert Thomas said. “There’s no better way to start the game. You try and start the game and get momentum for your team, and he comes out and scores a highlight-reel goal.”

The Blues’ Brayden Schenn pushed the advantage to 2-0 at 5:05 of the first on a tip in.

Suzuki trimmed the deficit to 2-1 when he scored midway through the first.

Kyrou restored the two-goal lead at 15:20 when he picked up a rebound for a 3-1 lead after the first 20 minutes.

Montreal dropped to 21-23-8.

In the middle frame, Nathan Walker potted a shot from the right circle for a 4-1 lead to the Blues at a 17:49.

In the third period, St Louis added three more strikes.

Thomas ballooned the lead to 5-1 off the power play with 31 seconds gone in the frame.

Montreal’s David Savard responded with a goal at 3:06 to make it 5-2.

St Louis kept up the pressure and added a power play marker from Jake Neighbours at 7:14 to make it 6-2.

Kyrou then struck at 15:33 to extend the lead to 7-2.

Jake Allen made 29 saves in the loss.

“It’s never fun to get run out of the building, especially yours,” Montreal’s Jayden Struble said. “I thought there were a lot of bad bounces too that went against us, but it’s not an excuse. You’ve just got to keep going. Tomorrow’s a new day.”